A Time Lord's Gotta Do, What A Time Lord's Gotta Do
by YouKnowItMakesSense
Summary: Gallifrey was lost many years ago. But memories remain as do old friendships. The Doctor will never forget who he once was, or his best friends. Now they are coming back, slowly but surely, into his life. They once had names, they once were vibrant friends with a passion for life, now sheer evil. He must choose between his old life and his new one, for the sake of family...
1. Prologue

**Farringham, 2006:**

"The fury of the Time Lord," he spoke through the brittle mouth left to him, as the vast mask of the maleficent was finally removed. Son of Mine had lived for nearly one Earth century in the captivity of fields of England, a slave to authority and all known creatures of wing on this damned world. Next, his bonds were taken he knew who his saviour was. The Doctor had told him during his musings while taking visits to his family. He wanted his family back and realised the man who was saving him bore a sort of malicious leer to him, just like his father had once. The humans had been screaming a name for some time now, "Vote Saxon! Saxon's your man!" His last host really was far more respectable than his ape brethren had proven themselves to be. The pubescent ones constantly relieved themselves on him like the vermin they are. How delighted he was whenever the Doctor would come to see him, the double heartbeat of a Time Lord had become music to his ears.

But Son of Mine knew this one was not the Doctor, for the Doctor would take sympathy on even a creature as self-serving as he. The Doctor was certainly making an Aubertide like he succumb to this Swedish syndrome he had heard him speak of. This one, needed an Aubertide for he knew their past together. Son of Mine felt the suspension lifting from his body and stood up. Beside him was a man with short blonde hair and a suit with a tall, blonde, dominatrix of a woman. "Take the Aubertide to the Valiant, I require him for interrogation. Oh, 93 years and he's still got the look! High-five! Well, everyone's a critic! Ms Rook, this one is required!" the man spoke with quite haste and impatience, Son of Mine knew he was the Time Lord, for he bore a fury not unlike the Doctor's, but with more expression. "Time Lord, I will do anything as long as you take my family back from your brethren's clutches," he demanded with great tenacity. "Listen, Aubertide, you are in no position to bargain with me for your life is in my hands, and don't think you and your greedy family are getting their hands on my regenerations," he scoffed, "I can feel you smelling me with lust right now! Weirdo! Uhh…"

Son of Mine lashed out at him and Ms Rook then proceeded to tumble with the man in his hands down into the river below. The Master could feel the young man's hands on his neck draining the life from him. Son of Mine threw him into the river, causing Saxon to black out. The last time this had happened he had been a child on Gallifrey, with Tommy. Torvic McNulty came and… and… Son of Mine was grabbed from behind by UNIT soldiers who took the vagrant young scarecrow to their transport upon sedation. "Are you hurt, my Master?" Ms Rook knelt before him, "I failed to save you from that creature. He wanted your life, your precious life!" Harold Saxon merely stalked away silently and on the journey home dreamt only of Gallifrey, and his old friend, Tommy.

**Gallifrey**

"I tell you Chuckie, one day I am going to be a hero, just like Omega! Tommy Pickles, Explorer of the Galaxies! And you can come with me Chuckie and Phil and Lil and Kimi and my mom and dad. We'll be like Omega and his family when they went into the wild!" Tommy grinned from ear to ear his eight year old self always baring that adventurous grin which Saxon had loathed back then. "Why would we do that Tommy, everyone knows you're the big adventurer and I'm just a Scaredy cat!" Chuckie whispered melancholically beside him. "No Chuck, you're a big brave dog! Just like we told you when you wouldn't go down the hyper-space slide when we were babies, remember? Tommy chuckles at his best friend, "and besides I don't ever want to be alone, and I love you guys and your parents too. Rassilon knows your old man is sick of Gallifrey, Chuckie! Otherwise, he wouldn't have promised me his Type 40, he wants a better model out of this scrap heap! I know we invented time travel, but we have the shoddiest transport! They're so bland and only change into something interesting. I'd like something blue like my old screwdriver or my shirt, just 'cuz it's my favourite colour. What do you think, Chuckie?"

Chuckie just remained in awe of his friend, a boy who back then was still his hero and would be for a long time after that day. Though since Perfugium, Saxon regretted not disowning him sooner. "Come on, Chuckie! Wouldn't you like to see your mom again someday?" Chuckie let out a roar, "Tommy, we never, ever, ever go to Gallifrey's past! Ever!"

"Yeah, but we met Omega on another planet when we were babies. What's to say we won't meet your Mom?"

"Tommy, please leave it alone!"

"No, I won't Chuckie! We have a destiny in the stars and you won't admit it! Mutter's Spiral is our oyster! If only you thick headed Time Lords realised it is not only our privilege, but our duty to go out there."

"You are a Time Lord, or have those outsiders been polluting you."

"Chuckie, for such a conservative Time Lord you've got a lot to hide from the High Council. Would you like me to tell them about Chaz bringing Kimi and Kira back to Gallifrey? Hmmm? God, I sound like Uncle Quences"

"Ha. Tommy, you would never tell on them, and besides Kira contributes to the zeitgeist. Her fake looming records have allowed her to become a Prydonian academic, thanks to that good man Borusa. And Kimi really seems to have a knack for Tardises, something uncommon for humans. And what about you Tommy, when we were babies you couldn't get enough of Kimi and her human ways. You're more human than either of them. You and Kimi have that curiosity that only apes like them have."

"You take that back! I am not an ape, and neither are the humans. Humans are a beautiful species! I wish I was one of them and not a boring old god like the fossils who teach us. Borusa is the only one in that school with any sense in his noggin!"

"Ape lover!" "Washed-up god!" "Lungbarrow slime!" "You take that back right now, Chuckie Finster! Or I swear, I'll knock you into your next regeneration!" "I'd like to see you try!" "I'm a green belt in Venusian Aikido, so just watch me!"

The two boys fought over nothing pulling hair and throwing punches, but it was all horseplay. Chuckie and Tommy were the best of friends and Tommy knew Chuckie had a love for humans. Chuckie took after his father, Chaz. Chaz was a genius of the highest order and about as loving and respecting of Rassilon's traditions as Chuckie. Also, they were both a bit shy. At least in his last body he was like Chuckie anyway. Chaz's new body was a lot like his younger self. He loved humans… hell he even married a Japanese one and smuggled her and her daughter back to Gallifrey. He cared for them but he still loved his son and his old classmate, Borusa. Nothing could sway Chaz Finster of House Oakdown for the love of the universe he shared with Tommy. He gave Tommy the deed to his Type 40 on his eighth birthday, three weeks ago. Chuckie was nearly nine and he knew he would have to take an important test before he was nine at the Academy. Chaz said it emboldened him to defeat evil, he was afraid what it would make of Chuckie. From a clearing, the boys were spied by Torvic McNulty, a bully who had tormented them everywhere they went. So much so they had to go out into the redgrass fields of the Outsiders for company. Tommy's friendship with a local chieftain had kept them in check from harming them. The Outsiders were actually kind, but they despised the Time Lords in the Capitol. Torvic was more like what Time Lords viewed of the Outsiders, than the either the Time Lords or the Outsiders. Saxon remembered him as being more like a creature from Skaro than Gallifrey.

"Hey dweebs, love it out here in savage territory!" Torvic said in his loudest voice. "Torvic, get out me and Chuckie were playing! Leave us alone you fat idiot!" "Well Pickles, if you use your aikido on me I'll go down just like Finster!" "Why I oughta… Oof!" Torvic was too fast for Tommy as the young boy was hurled into a tree and concussed. "Now, Torvic why are you doing this? We're just two friends having fun?" Chuckie implored him. "What you are is wannabe savages! So I'm Gonna do to you what my Ordinal General says the savages do for their heathen sacrifices! I'll fill your lungs with so much water your regenerate, and then I'll bash your head in with these rocks!" Chuckie had the same sensation that day as he would later have as Harold Saxon in the fields of England.

"Torvic, let him go!" "I'd do this to you too Pickles! But I didn't realise you had humans in the family until I heard your conversation! President Morbius will be delighted to hear that the Finsters brought otherworlders into the Capitol! Your father will have his last disgrace, Finster! And you'll be left here to be eaten by the savages!"

"Torvic, let him go! And all three of us can walk away from this! Don't hurt Chuckie, or I'll inform Borusa of your crimes against his future students, would you like that?"

"Pickles, an esteemed Prydonian like Borusa wouldn't accept a Terran lover like you. I'm sorry but this is the end of the line for him and that stupid star-gazing father of his. Maybe I can keep that little bratty sister of his as my slave when I tell the High Council. I could be a hero. Maybe you can come and watch me with her when I take over from Uncle Quences? The McNultys will seize House Lungbarrow, whether you like it or not. And I'll have that Finster girl as my concubine. And maybe you can watch…"

Tommy didn't realise until two minutes after Torvic's last words what he had just done. All he could think about was saving the Finsters, saving his friends. Saving Chuckie. Saving Chaz. Saving Kira. Saving Kimi, the girl who had shown him the beauty of the planet Earth and its amazing people. The blood splattered the rock as Torvic crashed to his side. Tommy didn't stop not even when he saw regeneration begin to occur. He would not let this boy torment him anymore. "Tommy, what have you done?" Chuckie Finster and Tommy Pickles were both now standing over the corpse of their tormentor. "Justice!" Tommy proclaimed before bursting into tears out of shock.


	2. No Further from Nirvana

**London, 2006**

In a well-furnished bedroom, similar to the one he had used thirty years ago before his final incarnation came into being, he watches and waits whilst his students meditate downstairs. K'anpo Cho Je had taken the title in honour of his last and most peaceful incarnation, Rinpoche. He had lived five million years in that body. His granddaughter, Patience, had always told him he would outlive Gallifrey itself. How right she was. For she had married one of the Founding Fathers of the Time Lords before he took his vows and swore to devote his life to the Menti Celestis, and she had died long before he left their world. The Menti Celestis were beings worshipped on Gallifrey as gods after the Sisterhood of Karn were expelled from the planet. Life was his personal favourite. A student of his had served as champion to two of these, Time and Life, on separate occasions.

First on Gallifrey now on Earth. He never had students like these on Gallifrey, because any who came for him sought to broaden rather than to cleanse their minds. Most of his time on Gallifrey he had no one, just himself. And one boy every generation. When Morbius, the dictator, was a young boy he had ventured to his hermitage and tried to learn before he was expelled. Cho Je would at least give him that. And the boy, the great hero, a boy with much desire, passion and most of all bravery, was his last student. As a young man, Rinpoche had rejected the teachings of several Time Lord Theoreticians like Rassilon. All he cared for was religion, and even as a religious man he loathed the gods of the Time Lords. Anyone who has seen the universe knew they were mere Eternals, unimaginative creatures with far too much power. The Terran alternative known as Buddhism told Rinpoche all he needed to know of this world. He had lived, slept, ate and fasted with Siddhartha Gautama himself and became the first of his followers. Now he merely kept to himself and did his best to protect Earth on the astral plane. Never a purer creature would you find in Heaven or on Gallifrey. Now that he was Cho Je he knew his duties lay with his followers, and not on the dead world of Gallifrey, destroyed by one of his students with an ancient weapon. All he cared for was the wellbeing of that student, the Doctor, they called him. A great hero across the stars. He had not seen the Doctor since his third regeneration, which Cho Je had aided in, allowing him to become his fourth incarnation rather die, however mysterious happenings on Earth led him to believe the boy was not far. Yes, the Doctor was nearly as old as Cho Je himself was when he knew most of what he knew about Gallifrey, but yet he still saw him as a boy. His fondest memories of him were their Aikido lessons on Mount Cadon. He knew the boy would only use it in self-defence, they both considered it more a form of art than of combat.

"K'anpo!" Tommy Butler, now a man in his seventies, but still as physical as he was thirty years ago entered the room. Tommy had been with Cho Je since the last time he had seen the Doctor. The power of a crystal from Metebelis 3 had changed him from a simpleton to an Einstein in a split second. Cho Je had come to consider Tommy his equal in Buddhist thought and was even considering making him K'anpo, were it not for the ambitions of his less enlightened students. "A man is at the door to see you, K'anpo. He says he wishes for your guidance, he claims he wants to know something from you." "Let him enter, but remind him of the hour at which he calls." "Oh, surely that's no matter to our race now is it, Rinpoche?" a man with blonde hair entered the room and brushed Tommy aside without a second's thought. "That will be all boy, now go downstairs and make your mind go numb with your other hippie friends. I need to speak to the K'anpo." Tommy graciously exited.

"Would you like to sit down?" Cho Je implored the man. "No time, I'm afraid. Just amazed to know that you are alive. You do know our planet was destroyed by your top student, don't you?" the fast talking man seemed to stumble out. "Planets are a feeble concept, what truly matters is within ourselves my good man. I have seen empires fall and emperors with them on this planet, but never have I once seen a river or a rock fade away except by the power of others. Man is the only creature I have come to know who can fall. Unless they learn the way…" "Look, I'm Gallifreyan too, my head doesn't need Terran nonsense, thank you very much," the blonde man snapped. "You are not the Doctor. But you know of him yes?"

"I need to know what he told you on Mount Cadon, the night Torvic McNulty disappeared. You were the only one who knew."

"I know not what you mean." "Did I do it?" "What?"

"Did I really break his head open, was he really my first kill."

"Torvic McNulty was killed by Outsiders. Unless you are one of them you didn't kill him, which I doubt since during the Time War they were immediately shipped to the front lines. Like lambs to the slaughter."

"I like that. A monk with venom. Oh, if only this was 1500 and you were Spanish and Catholic. What fire and brimstone would there be in store. I mean I serve Death herself. What does that make me to a Buddhist like you, eh? I had a dream you see, of being drowned. And I remembered, something about Torvic."

"It does not do to dwell on dreams, Mr…. um?" "Saxon, Harold Saxon. Very like Professor Dumbledore are we, K'anpo." Cho Je had to blush, that story was for another day.

"I want to know, Cho. Everything that happened between you and him on Mount Cadon." "I showed him exactly what I show Tommy and my other students here on Earth." "I must desist with this small talk it seems. Looks like I'm going to need a Metebelis crystal."

"That I cannot allow, not in this place. We have never had one." "Then how does that simpleton operate an alarm system that complicated not even my prototype Archangels could hack it?"

"You will find no such thing here. Now get out! You sinful little boy, you dare bring yourself into my presence, Champion of Death?" "Hardly a boy anymore, K'anpo, I've regenerated far more than you have." "Well, I have powers accumulated on this planet for 2,500 years. Should you dare to cross me I shall send you to the dark realms of your mistress herself." The lights seemed to flicker in the corridors and thunder clapped outside as Saxon backed away and ran out the door.

"Who was that, K'anpo?" Tommy asked later, as he prepared his master for bed. "No one, Tommy. Only a foolish soul lacking enlightenment, thought he could purchase it like any old trinket." Tommy helped Cho Je into bed before turning the light to a dim setting by the wall. "Turn it off, completely tonight, Tommy. I want to remember my home in the blackness."

"As you command, dear K'anpo" Tommy said as he closed the door and allowed darkness to consume the room like the jaw of a carnivorous whale. Cho Je felt a tear stream down his cheek as he recalled the night Torvic died. And how he is the only one left with a clear memory of the events, with one ethereal exception. He let his dreams take him back to that night.

**Mount Cadon, Gallifrey**

The Hermit lay in seclusion scraping all the things he had seen and heard in his lives again and again on the walls of his lonely monastery. All he had was that boy from the House of Lungbarrow who came whenever he needed him. The boy had nearly mastered Aikido and many other, more spiritual, arts. The Hermit thought him a near rival to President Morbius for mind bending, an art he had taught both of them. He was very proud of them, despite knowing full well that they would be just as green as he had been in days of war. The Great Vampires had come and gone in his middle age and taken his family, but he knew that these boys, however millions of years younger than he, would go into battle against a malignant force from Gallifreys past. He told them time and again how the Fendahl or the Faction Paradox or the Reapers or even Zagreus could emerge and threaten all life in the Kasterborous Sector as well as the rest of the universe. But the Time Lords would be at centre stage he knew that much. He had come to realise he would be of no use to this planet and had elected to leave as soon as the boy was old enough to move along without him.

A wail from the corridor alerted him to the fact that his dream may in fact be further than he realised. The Hermit discontinued his scratching to turn around and see Tommy Pickles with tears streaming from his eyes. As was expected, the Hermit offered the boy consolation for a long time until he stopped crying. "Tommy, my boy. What is wrong with you? Has that cousin of yours been hurting you again? It does not do to follow the path of Pain as opposed to Life. Even Pain himself would discourage it." "Oh, sensei. I have killed a boy, no older than me. I follow the path of Death, I can never follow your path of Life." "How did you come to do this, Tommy?" Tommy told him the whole story of the murder, the playing by the River Lethe and Torvic's threats. "Ah, you still bear feelings for the young girl, I see. Or is it her species you are so fond of? I always thought Terrans were fascinating too. You and I have more in common with them than our own people. So did Omega and the other founding figure of our history. Rassilon was the conservative one of that trinity. Had Omega or the Other led our people it would be a very different story indeed."

"You're missing the point, wise master. I have followed the path of Death. The Menti Celesti have chosen my destiny for me. I can never be like you."

"Tommy Pickles, since you entered this monastery I knew all you cared for was my stories and my knowledge, not my way of life. You are not a killer though. I can see it in you. I showed you the flower all those years ago… when your mother and father ventured to the stars and left you with that lout, Quences. I showed you the blooming of a flower. And from that moment on you saw Life from a different perspective to I. I prefer to wait and allow others to come to me. You love the adventure."

"Are the Menti Celesti angered with me, teacher?" "You should perform penance, Tommy. It is what I have taught you. I trust you have no intention of telling your uncle Quences of what has transpired this evening between yourself, the Finster boy and Torvic? He has little care for the gods of his fathers that man. As for your penance, a fast of three days and three nights should be sufficient, I think."

"Thank you for showing me their mercy, maestro. I will never forget it." "Tommy, think on your sins. And know that I love you. As do they. Though do not stray down Death's path, for Life brings us forward in all things." Tommy bowed and exited the monastery. The Hermit rested his head beside the image of a wooden blue box on his wall. "That boy has no idea. They have been playing games with him since he was born. He is not the first boy his age to bring me such a story. My gods they are most definitely cruel. The boy should join the atheists in the Academy or his heathen uncle, Quences, and his contraptions."

The next morning one of the Outsiders told him they found the burnt body of a boy from the Capitol and a "fancy looking one at that." The Hermit told him to think nothing of it and bring the remains as far away from the Capitol or any of the Great Houses as they could.

A few more years passed and Tommy rarely came back. He had mastered Venusian Aikido elsewhere and was a young man at the Academy now under Borusa. Every time they met the Hermit would ask him about the death of Torvic and Tommy would change the topic usually citing his friend, Chuckie as the killer. The Hermit at first saw this as childish, until he uncovered the terrible truth whilst in prayer to the Menti Celestis. So long ago now, Gallifrey is long gone. Why now? Why...

**London, 2006**

"K'anpo! Help me! Gahh!" the voices echoed in his mind as Cho Je awoke from his dark memories. Gunshots in his own home on Earth. He would not stand for this. He assumed Tommy Butler was hard at work trying to defeat the interlopers. Donning his slippers, the old monk prepped himself for battle. He manifested the essence which Light of the Menti Celesti had given him before she was taken by Death so many years ago. He knew he needed to take down that one's champion. He knew that the man known as Saxon (yes, he knew the man from the moment he entered the room) served her and that the boy had done so against his will. He had to save Saxon and stop the man who caused him such pain all these years ago. Soldiers of the British Special Forces were at the door. Rumour had it that Harold Saxon had seized executive control over them after the alleged World War III scenario and the destruction of Downing Street, and Cho Je knew this man was more than what he seemed. Simple Tommy had managed to take down the man's security guards with Venusian Aikido and was now engaged in combat with a statuesque woman in blonde armed with a weapon from the age of Homo Reptilia on this planet. Tommy delivered a fiery blow to her neck causing her to contort due to lack of oxygen. "Spare me, please!" she begged of Tommy. Tommy merely allowed her to breathe once more and she passed out. "Excellent, Tommy! Mercy is the key to following the path of Life, my son," Cho Je congratulated his understudy. "K'anpo!" Tommy looked on in delight at the man he venerated above all others for his piety, patience and kindness, with that same twinkle in his eye a child would have upon seeing their parent arrive in a crisis, a twinkle that said everything was alright. That he was safe now that Cho Je was here. "I have taken on these government thugs and I have broken this ninja woman. And…. ARGHHHHH!" A laser burst struck Tommy in the abdomen knocking him unconscious beside the limp figure of Vivien Rook.

"Shame I didn't kill him. Couldn't bring myself to kill a mind enhanced by the kind of power his has though could I?" the arrogant figure of Harold Saxon strode into the foyer with more armed thugs at his helm. "We tried to negotiate K'anpo. But you just wouldn't get me a Metebelis crystal. That was all I asked for. Looks like I'll have to cut the number of Time Lords back down to two. Shame, your mind was without equal on this planet until my resurrection." "I can help you boy. I know how to defeat him utterly. The man who did this to you," Cho Je offered without a flicker of fear passing his face. "Made me what? Insane? I'm afraid the drum players in that time loop the Doctor trapped me in for seven incarnations did that already. I killed them but they just kept coming back with the same tune over and over again."

"No! The one who made you a champion of Death herself. Now I know your generation are without faith but trust me boy, no matter how arrogant or merciless they may be, the Menti Celesti are our people's gods and built the very constellation we once lived in. Together we can stop them from meddling in mortal affairs and allow the power of Life to shine through." "Sorry, K'anpo! But I couldn't care less, I'm above the Menti Celesti at this stage. And I'm going to need Time Lord Bio-data for my laser screwdriver to use against the Doctor when I see him next. So? How about you live all three billion years of your life at once, dear teacher?"

Several hours later, Tommy Butler awoke. Everyone was gone. And a bundle of robes lay where Cho Je was standing before that intense heat struck Tommy. Then he remembered….that evil man! Where was Cho Je?! Where was his K'anpo?!

In his room, Tommy found the box empty. His blue crystal which the Doctor gave him many years ago had been taken by the evil one. Well, at least the man who gave him the crystal said he was the Doctor. The Doctor that Tommy Butler had known all those years ago was a dapper man with frills and a large nose. This new one was tall with plenty of teeth and curls. Regardless, it was gone. In the foyer, Tommy sulked until he heard a groan come from within the robes. Lifting them he saw only a little man with no discernible features other than incredible age look up at him. "Tommy, call Alastair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart and Mike Yates. Tell them that they must save the world from…. Thascalos. Go in peace my boy."

"K'anpo? No, it cannot be."

This weak shrunken man in Tommy's arms was none other than Cho Je, regressed to a little old man beyond any human appearance. "Only laser tech can do this, K'anpo! Which means that someone has come bearing technology wielded by the servants of Death. She is come, K'anpo?" "Yes, Tommy. And her master with her."


	3. O, Death

**London, 2006**

The limousine containing MI6 executive, Harold Saxon, drove through the streets of Kensington, with its brooding occupantThe Disciples never had any respect for the fallacies of the universe. All they cared for was him, him and his all-powerful slowly developing Archangel Network. He had used many aliases since arriving in the 21st century, but none he liked more than Harold Saxon. It seemed quintessentially English, to say the least, ideal for Westminster politics. And his power plays were more and more successful every year. Soon, the United Kingdom would be his nation. At least unless the Doctor, Harkness and Jones caught up with him. Of course, he hoped that would happen inevitably, but what he really needed was a contingency plan in case of victory. Richard Lazarus would provide him with that through the Carrionite spell books they had salvaged from the Globe Theatre ruins, the Secret Books of Saxon, Vivien had taken to calling them. For such a devoted woman without any independent though, he needed her. Especially since she was his ticket to tricking Death, she had loved him longer than most of the Disciples, back before his resurrection. With the knowledge that he was a pawn of Death in his head for a while now, the Master had only one objective. Subdue Death and become the true master of the universe. She always held him back, prevented him from affecting history on a grand scale, well no more. "Well, this Metebelis crystal should soon put an end to all of that" he thought maliciously. The limousine arrived at the docks where the secret meeting place for his cult was based.

The warehouse was desolate apart from Vivien and some of his other disciples when he entered. There was Vivien preparing the summoning rituals which the Master had seen Cadonite priests perform to bring the Menti Celesti into the world. Death rarely communicated with him so he intended to meet her face to face this time. But the Master knew of the binding spell to keep her here and that would require the sacrifice of a long lived being, a long lived human favourably, and that was where the Aubertide came in.

"You know, for a Time Lord, you really know how to negotiate," the creature said whilst tied to a chair within the proximity of the ritual. Son of Mine had come to an arrangement with Saxon regarding the fact that he had a human host who had been alive since the 1800s, suspended in time but alive. The Master promised him a chance at a new host and the release of his family if he gave up this body at great personal risk. The boy agreed albeit begrudgingly. The Master donned the ancient skull of the Beast, an artefact Vivien had brought him from the village of Devil's End.

"O, Death! Bring your eternal benevolence into this world so that we may be one, now and forever. Your presence is required on this Earth. Come, come! Come closer! Follow the drumbeat and you shall find your champion!" The Master drew his sacrificial blade he had had since the day Torvic died and drove it straight into the chest of Son of Mine. The Aubertide screamed in pain as a cloud of smoke descended over him. "What are you doing, Koschei?" she implored him. "That is not my name, Eternal. From now on you shall know me only as the Master!" As the last life left the Aubertide's host, Death appeared bound to the summoning circle with Saxon's soldiers pointing guns at her in an instant. She was not how the Master remembered her from Perfugium all those years ago. Instead of a young, dark haired teenage girl she was a blonde woman in her thirties with an almost ditsy atmosphere to her. "Where were you when I was stuck in that fool, Yana's form? Where were you at the Cruciform? Where were you when the last of your followers died with Gallifrey? Well, Death, where were you?" the Master mocked the goddess before stabbing her in the abdomen. She screamed in agony. "You're an Eternal, it's hardly going to hurt you now, is it?" "Fuck you, you Time Lord hack! Some champion you are! When I'm free, I'll crush you to within an inch of your lives. I'll make you suffer. The Doctor would have made a better champion than you ever did, you traitor. I regret choosing you all those years ago."

The Master could not take that insult, so he proceeded to viciously beat the monster that had harmed him since his childhood. The Doctor, the Rani, the Time Lords, the Daleks…. none had done him more wrong than she ever did. She had been influencing him since before the drums entered his head. Thankfully, she had presumed him dead during the Time War, which allowed his return as Harold Saxon to go unnoticed allowing this plot of his to even exist. "Leave us! Me and my mistress need some alone time! But know this, there is no other master! Only me! Not even your master has masters anymore!" The Disciples exited briskly as they watched their master maim the very thing who made him what he is today.

"We're all alone now! Just you and Harry, Jade! Or is that even your real name! Oh wait, it's not! Your name is Grim. Wanna go play with Billy and Mandy, eh Grim?"

"You are sick! I made you what you are today, the abilities you have today your younger self would never use. How can I feel so proud yet so disgusted with you at once?"

"Every sadist's mentor has that feeling at some point, babes."

First, Death, then, bitch, then, Jade, then, Grim, then babes. I'm not sure I'm very proud of the schizophrenia of my champion."

"Death, I have done so much for you the least you could do is be mine. You know darling I just feel this relationship is going nowhere. For example, you boss me about, I enslave a couple of galaxies. You turn me on, I destroy ten galaxies. But yet you won't even deign to be my wife will you? Come on lover girl give daddy a kiss."

"Lover girl? I am an Eternal of the Menti Celesti. I have power over all organic species in the universe and you are my ape like servant. I always knew that Rassilons people would devolve to this one day, I told my family, we should never have made any of them champions. But know they insisted that your species was the most worthy for your devotion. Let go of me this instant!"

"Enough talk, babes. Let's do it."

"What? No."

She really had no choice in the matter, the Master forced himself on her. A lot of sick stuff happened that night involving whips and laser screwdrivers but eventually Death gave in. By the end of it, they were even laughing together.

"Oh do it again Harry! Do it again! Ha ha ha ha!" she chuckled through grimaced teeth. "Oh my Master! You are my master!"

"You see, Death. Not every man can be the bitch in a relationship, even if it is one between goddess and champion. Sometimes you've got to show the woman you love that you're a lion, not a sheep."

"Oh Harry. Please," she smirked through crossed eyes and a forced smile. "You are my Simba."

"How dare you!" he smacked her with full force before forcing himself on her again.

"I'm sorry, Harry baby," she apologised afterwards after a few more hours of unnecessary violence and sex. "You're more like Scar than Simba. That mean old Doctor is more like Simba."

"Yes, and he's got a warthog and a lemur on his side, in the form of Martha Jones and Captain Jack Harkness, trapped at the end of the universe. The human race, for such an inferior one, their animals have a fascinating monarchic system. I've watched that film every night since I came here to learn from Scar's mistakes. To be like Scar, I need not just hyenas but loyalists. That is why I have my cult. But I still need hyenas to seize this planet. And unlike Scar, I need a queen. One of my enemies could use my lack of an heir to their advantage. Tell me Death, you want a name on this planet?"

"Desdemona. Jasmine. Jade. Maleficent. Queen Scar."

"No, few of those sound very human. How about Lucy? It seems to go well with the whole Harold Saxon-English symbiosis."

"Oh, I love it, my master. I love it! I love it!"

"You will need a back story and a family. I'm sure my disciples can provide that for you."

The Master got dressed and so did his new fiancée, the soon-to-be Mrs Harold Saxon, Death herself. Finally, he would defeat the Doctor. But then he looked at her and she only needed to say one word for him to once again lash out: "Torvic."

**The House of Oakdown, Gallifrey**

Chuckie didn't say a word to Tommy after what he just saw. Torvic was dead and his best friend had killed him. At first, Chuckie felt relieved that their tormentor was gone, but he felt scared for Tommy and for him. It was Chuckie's idea to burn the body to prevent any other chance at regeneration. They left his blood near some Outsider artefacts to create a false trail for anyone who went looking for Torvic. They didn't say anything to each other apart from instructions, then they had nothing else to say. Chuckie merely went home looking for his parents. He arrived at House Oakdown where the Kithriarch (leader), his cousin, Vernak came to the door. "Chuckster! Long time, no see!" "Vernak, I've been gone for a few hours, I'd like to see my family now if you don't mind," Chuckie retorted to his ill-suited Kithriarch of a cousin. Vernak merely egged him onward into the corridors. Oakdown was a new house on Gallifrey, compared to Tommy's house, Lungbarrow. Lungbarrow was austere, gaunt and almost frightening, but yet homely. Oakdown was vibrant, opulent and full of socialising cousins. Chuckie looked all over for his father, Chaz Finster of House Oakdown. Chuckie, like several of his cousins, had parents who were members of separate houses. Inter-house marriages had been wrong in his parent's day, so much so that his father marrying Melinda of House Redloom, his mother, had been considered vile and her family had ostracised them. Chuckie never knew any of his mother's family because of this. Melinda had been killed during one of their adventures in Chaz's Type 40. "Old reliable," as Tommy called it. Melinda had died on that Tardis, so Chuckie hated it. Tommy loved the old machine so Chaz was only too happy to promise it Tommy, knowing Chuckie had no desire to even look at the thing. Chuckie also despised adventure, bravery needed a greater purpose than sheer discovery after that day.

Chaz Finster sat beside his Tardis with a cup of tea in his hands. "My father and his human whimsies," Chuckie thought. There was no doubt that his father was an Earthophile, he even read the child psychologist Dr Lipchitz from twentieth century Earth. "Dad!" Chuckie tapped his father's shoulders. "Oh son! It's you!" Chaz spilt the tea all over his shirt, and showed Chuckie what new human garbage he had taken to reading. "Who is this Dickens fellow? And how could any Terran have great expectations, dad?"

"Well Chuckie, Terrans are the most curious race in the universe. They, like me, love adventure and this young Terran named Pip has a terrible life, has great things expected of him but like all of us, he finds it hard. Oh son, it's dreadful."

Chuckie just wanted to confess, even though he knew it would be unwise, he wanted to tell the man that had raised him he was an accessory for murder. He manage to leap in between sentences at Chaz.

"I care little at the moment, father. I need to talk to you about…"

"Your meeting with the Untempered Schism, son? Well, let me tell you it really opens up a Gallifreyan within himself. Boy, I remember when I looked into it."

Chuckie knew now was his chance to change the subject away from Torvic. "So Dad, what did the Schism show you?"

"Your mother, first. Then, my Tardis. Then, the Earth. Then, you, but older and with a different hair colour. It showed you torn between two different creatures, both very angry. Oh, it beggars belief."

Chuckie had little interest. If he wanted to be a Prydonian, he needed to give up on superstition. He knew Tommy's fate would probably be as an agent of the Celestial Intervention Agency, but he knew he would be Lord President or Castellan if he could help it. The universe did not call him, but yet he always found himself following Tommy into adventure. This evening however, had proven to him that he needed to follow his own destiny. Tommy would only bring him to darker places, with even more death. But how could Chuckie leave Tommy, the best friend he had in the world?

"Dad, where's Kimi? I need to talk to her," Chuckie interrupted his father who continued to talk about his useless visions.

"Upstairs in the Finster chambers? Where your old bedroom was."

"Thanks." Chuckie couldn't hide anything from her, she was his sister after all, even if she was a Terran. She may have been more like his father than even he realised but she was his age and knew Tommy better than Chaz (possibly) so perhaps she could help him.

In his old bedroom beside his crib with "Chuckie Finster" written in Old High Gallifreyan on it, was his bed. The door next to his bed led into Kimi's room. The House of Oakdown was so crowded they had the space of an average Terran middle class house, but it seemed like less and the door was merely a shortcut. Inside, Kimi was playing with Tommy's old sonic screwdriver which he had given her as a birthday present this year.

"Kimi, it's me," Chuckie said crying as he entered the room. "What's wrong, bro?" she asked looking worried at the sight of him. "Tommy did something very bad today and I think now that maybe we shouldn't be friends."

"Did that self-righteous little wannabe hero hurt my brother? You know he thinks he's Omega come again that boy. If we were back on Earth in my time, his exploits would be dismissed as crazy and when he grew up he would've been a loon living in bin bags."

Chuckie didn't laugh at that because he knew it was a lie. None of them could ever truly speak ill of Tommy, particularly not Kimi, for he was a good kid despite everything. Tommy only killed Torvic saving his best friend.

"So what did he do, Chuckie?"

"He…he…he saved me. He killed Torvic McNulty."

"Really, Chuckie? Tommy killed Torvic. Wow, that guy's Kinda big, how did he…"

"Shut up! This is no time for trivialities, my best friend killed someone else saving my life."

"But that's just it, Chuckie! He saved you from Torvic. How?"

"Torvic was drowning me. Tommy tried to stop him. He pushed him back, then he said he'd come after the rest of us. He knew about you and Kira. I could do nothing, I was nearly gone. Then Tommy went at him with a rock, and…and…."

"Well, Tommy did the right thing. He saved not just you, but us. The McNultys are a proud family descended from Rassilon, allegedly. Tommy and you will forget about this sooner or later. And why do you care, Tommy killed him not you."

"I know that, but there's a part of me who feels like it was me, not him who did it."

"That's not true and you know it, Chuckie. You were being drowned. And I'd be okay with it if you did. Only the forces in the Capitol wouldn't appreciate Tommy's motives as much as I do."

"What do I do, Kimi?"

"Go and talk to Tommy. Make peace with him and help him through these next few days. You and Tommy always loved playing with Reptar back on dad's old place on Mount Perdition."

"I hope that works, Kimi. I really do."

"Remember Chuckie, the one thing you have to remember is that you are not in the wrong. It's Tommy. And Rassilon help him. If it were you, Chuckie, I don't know what I would do."

Kimi Finster did not realise at the time, but she had spoken the most prophetic words that would come to shape the next few weeks indefinitely.


	4. Danse Macabre

**The Eye of Orion**

Why did she have to leave him like all the others? Why did she have to leave him just like his friends had and his family? Clara Oswald had been his impossible girl and she had walked out of his life, to become a Dalek hunter with nothing hut hatred for her mentor, the Doctor. "Just like Ace," he said to himself in his broad Scottish accent. Christ, a second lease on life and he was a dark haired Scotsman! He had regenerated into a Scotsman and he still wasn't ginger! He was so old now he had forgotten pretty much everything before the Time War, at least anything that didn't matter. Ace mattered of course, his guilt for that girl along with many others still hit him hard. This place had been an old spot he used to sit with his companions and loved ones. A place of tranquillity with green verdant fields with no one to disturb you at all. The first time he was here was at Borusa's celebration of their revolution. All he could do was cry and cry into his hands because Clara had been his "impossible girl" she saved him from the Great Intelligence, she showed him so many things and she was the only one he could remember now. His whole life was gone because she sold him out on Trenzalore. He could have died a hero there and let the Time Lords die with a less tarnished name. However, the events of the last year had changed all that and the Doctor didn't care to recall them.

"Same old, same old, Daleks, Cybermen, Vashta Nerada, sex, drugs, rock n'roll etc. etc.," he mused in a bored manner to himself. "What I need is to retire. Shame I've got twelve more regenerations to go before I'm kaput! You couldn't have picked a worse time to reinvigorate my fucking lust for life, Clara Oswald." After all his efforts, Gallifrey was still lost but at least the Doctor had tried and managed to save a few of his people though he didn't know who. Gallifrey was definitely gone now, consumed in shadow.

"Shame, isn't it? You don't want to be alive because you remember next to nothing of your life. How tragic," a voice said behind the Doctor. The Doctor turned to face Time, his old mistress. She had taken the form of someone familiar, the Doctor couldn't quite place who…. "Clara?! Why on Earth would you pick the one person in the universe who hates me more than the Daleks?"

"Oh please, Doctor. Is that anyway to address your old mistress?" she chuckled in the same way that Clara did. The Doctor's vexed appearance was more apparent than any of the tranquil views on this beautiful planet. "Is that anyway to address the woman who saved you as a child from the maws of Death herself?"

"What are you on about you celestial cow? Your people are the reason mine are nearly all dead, I want nothing to do with you Eternal scumbags. Now, bye fuckity bye."

"Seems my former champion needs a little jog through time. Very well then."

The Doctor felt powerful hands on his temples as light burst through his mind, slaying his very essence from within until all of a sudden he was eight years old again. The year before he loved Shrek.

**The House of Lungbarrow, Gallifrey**

Tommy Pickles knew now that he was a killer. But very few killers felt as sick as he did right now. Sitting at the dining table, with his gluttonous cousins ravishing everything. Rassilon knows why that hermit told him to stop eating. The hunger was setting in the more he saw gluttons like Satthalthrope and Glospin shoving so much down their throats. He had to leave. The pain in his stomach was driving him insane. He couldn't take much more with his fat family. All he could think about was the look on Chuckie's face as they walked away from the River Lethe. All that shame concentrated into one boy, and all for him. They both loathed Torvic so they both threw their hate at him even in death. Torvic was the bane of many an intelligent child's life on Gallifrey. But his family were affluent and would want vengeance. Tommy wanted to confess, because he was afraid that some of his friends in the Shobogans would be targeted. He had never told Chuckie this, he planned to one day, but he had befriended a tribe of Outsiders living near Chaz Finsters estates on Mount Perdition called the Shobogans. They had a New Age vibe to them, anti-establishment almost, and they were very like-minded to Tommy. Apart from their eccentric Luddite views on time travel Tommy would have called them his equals. The Shobogans would be purged by the McNultys for this crime against their kindred, of which they were innocent. Tommy would rather spend his life in exile as an Outsider than allow them to be targeted for his crimes. It was unprecedented for a child like him to be executed for murder, even during the Presidency of Morbius. No, exile and removal from his House would be sufficient.

Tommy excused himself and headed for his room, an ornate place with astronomical surveys, sonic screwdriver prototypes (his own work on his father, Stu's, inventions). On the walls were symbols of Prydonian pride and books Chaz Finster had given him; Danny, Champion of the World (he couldn't comprehend how Danny's father didn't just regenerate until he was informed by Quences about human attributes), the Time Machine (a work he found a little like what Morbius put forward), Mein Kampf (a good horror novel he had thought, until Chaz informed him otherwise) and Catcher in the Rye (his least favourite, a boy moaning about how terrible life is. He should consider himself lucky not be born into the House of Lungbarrow, or on as dull a place as Gallifrey).

Whilst lying on his bed and clutching his stomach, he reached under his mattress to find his most prized possession. Only he and his brother knew of its existence on this whole planet. A picture of his mother, taken with the Terran device known as a camera, rather than a holodeck. In it she was with a blonde man, tall, slim, handsome, sort of looked like he wanted to do fun things with everyone in the picture. Also, a man smaller than his mother with a hat and several symbols quite similar to question marks all over his clothing (even his umbrella) and secondly an annoying looking man who had gotten in the way of an attractive Japanese girl. His mother had told him she had had it taken in Japan fighting the spirit, Umemi. She had told Tommy the man in the photo was the first Time Lord she ever met and she swore off them after that. Then she met his father and that all changed. You see, the reason Tommy kept this secret from everyone was because his crimes on universal interference were far worse than what Chaz Finster had done. He was half human, pure and simple. His mother was named Didi on Gallifrey, but she said her name back home was Penelope Gate. The Doctor so wanted to meet her family or see her again. He knew that when he was old enough he would go and find her in Chaz's Type 40 one day. However, with his recent actions that seemed far less likely than he initially thought. "Oh Rassilon, what have I done?"

"Bro? Are you okay? You never touched the food that cousin Arkhew made for us? I guess he is the worst cook, since he makes everything look like clouds, but seriously bro, it's unlike you to just run away without saying anything." Dill Pickles came into the room doing his Macra-walk, as he liked to call it. A large species which the Doctor knew little and cared nothing for, but they seemed to be Dill's obsession this week. Dill saw the photo and gave Tommy a concerned look. "Bro, you shouldn't have that out when you're like this? What if someone saw it? The CIA would be all over Mom and Dad." For a seven year old, Dill had a great comprehension of Gallifrey and its corruption, not unlike his brother. Dill, like Tommy, had been born during Morbius' Presidency, so even now they were mired in more corruption and tyranny than their father or his ancestors had ever been mired in.

"Oh sorry, bro. I was just a little delirious, that's all. I think I might have that disease that the Terrans sent to our sector in their rocket. What's it called again? Swine flu?"

"I call bullshit on that, bro. You are clearly doing this out of choice. If there's one thing Tommy Pickles does, he doesn't allow one epidemic to infect him or get him down in any way, shape or form."

"Dill? Do you remember Mom and Dad?"

"Not really, bro. Out of any person in this life, the most I've had for parents are Grandpa Lou and he's moved to the Capitol and Uncle Quences. Uncle Drew and Aunt Charlotte have never come around much since he became a clerk for the High Council. So, all I've got is you and Quences for parents, and you're more like a brother than a parent most of the time, so not really."

"Dill, when you were born I went out into the woods and lost you. You were raised by a group of Outsiders for three weeks. They were all smart and they were called the Shobogans. We can go out there and join them. You and me? Leave Lungbarrow behind and join them. We'll never have the responsibilities of becoming Cardinal or Castellan. We'll just be free. There are people there who helped me raise you, and they would take you back in with me at any time. What do you say?"

Dill looked stupefied at his brother for a few minutes before replying. "Tommy…I don't know what to say. Except…, are you out of your mind?! Uncle Quences will find us and get Capitol guards after those Outsiders within a matter of days. It will be a bloodbath. And besides, I thought you always wanted to graduate then join the CIA and we could all go on adventures in the Finster Type 40. We would find Mom and Dad, and then visit Mom's family on Earth. I thought you said we would change the face of Gallifrey, make them allow other species to integrate. You would abandon all that to go out and live in loincloths and dance at the moon for rain? Your dreams… your hopes. Tommy, either you're hitting puberty early or something really terrible has happened and we need to get the hell out of dodge. Please, be the first one."

"Dill, I'm eight, not forty five. And nothing has happened!"

"If nothing has happened, then why did you have to shout out "nothing has happened" like a liar would?"

"Because…because…" Tommy had to think of a lie and desperately. His brother was savvy for a boy his age but not quite savvy enough to realise. He needed a half truth. "Okay, bro. Quences told me this in confidence, so don't breathe a word of this to anyone. Not even to him The McNultys are making a move to seize our House and they want you and me to be dealt with to weaken Quences. His spies in the Capitol have told him everything. As his heir, I have to deal with this, so he wants us out of here. Rassilon knows, the McNultys are purists and if they realise who our mother was."

"Uncle Quences knows that?" "He's a very resourceful and intelligent man, Dill. Which is why you can't say anything to him."

"Okay bro. Omegan Scout's Honour. Are you sure we're okay?" "For now. I'll tell you when we're ready to move though."

Looking frantic, Dill made a dash for the door knowing he had to reserve some stuff to pack if he and his brother were going to live out in the wastelands of Gallifrey. Tommy buried his head in his hands and dreamt of the River Lethe. In the dream, he saw Torvic's head in his hands and it was speaking to him. "Oh Tommy, you loved doing that didn't you? It's always the ones with the Terran blood with that much bloodlust?" Tommy was dumbfounded and began to debate with the head, "I'm the one with a lust for blood? You tried to drown my friend!" "Yes, but at least I had the courtesy to give him a quick death before I took his family down. Your family won't have that courtesy when my mother and brothers uncover this. I have a feeling my brother Timmy will be having Dill Pickles sometime this week."

"Be quiet, you scumbag! I killed you because you were evil and your family were too. I'd kill all of them as well without a second's thought."

"Hmm, so what you're saying is you like killing, Tommy? Oh, the Menti Celesti really chose your path for you this day, didn't they?"

Tommy and Torvic were suddenly transported to an office room where flying balls surrounded an old man, as a man with spiky brown hair, a suit and sand shoes sat beside a blonde woman who looked pale and terrified. "We want our Master," one of the flying balls said, at least that was what Tommy caught before they annihilated the man standing before them. Tommy noticed a blonde haired man in a trench coat with fancy shoes. He was standing beside a dark skinned woman and a tall, cheesy-looking guy whose swagger was not totally unlike the blonde man from his mother's photo.

"Basically, end of the world!" the man with the spiked hair declared to the cameras before transforming the blonde man into an old man and killing the Cheesy Guy. Several things happened at once, the firing of missiles into space, the subjugation of all planets that Tommy saw flash before his eyes, and then the spiky haired man standing erect on a mountain of skulls. Tommy saw several men like this one looked like him but older and with longer hair. Tommy saw him using a weapon to age planets to death. Then a fellow with odd hair and clothing who seemed to relish in manipulating armies against one another. Then a fellow in frills battling soldiers with sea creatures. The soldiers were aided by an oddly familiar looking fellow with dark hair and a goatee. Next was a tall man with a unique scarf, who made an entire culture on a planet bend the knee before his image on a computer. Then he saw a blonde haired man allow the robotic men to fire a space ship onto the planet Earth. Earth? No. The next man he saw was curly haired and seemed to strangle a woman to death right before him. The next one he knew by sight, it was the man with the umbrella from his mother's photo, who appeared to be leading creatures of hatred, made of metal into battle. Next was a Gothic looking gentleman, who managed to cause a time warp to occur on Earth in the late 20th century causing an event horizon to occur in that Solar System. The next one was a soldier battling alongside the man with the goatee against the same beings of hate he had seen him work with beforehand. Next, was a big eared man who allowed some giant, flatulent, green creatures to abuse planets for profit, so that he may be wealthy alongside them, before he saw the spiky haired man again for a brief moment turning people into… into… Rassilon knows what. Finally, the last two men he saw were a big chinned fellow in a palace alongside his empress of hate, a red haired woman and a woman he claimed to be her daughter with curly hair and a staser gun. The final man was a grey haired fellow all dishevelled and angry wearing a crown of blood.

"Ah, no more! No more! Torvic, who are these men? And what have they got do with me?" Tommy screamed as he clutched his eyes in fear, an emotion he had suddenly come to know a lot about that day. "Isn't it obvious? They are the embodiments of your future. As you grow older, Tommy Pickles, you will learn that killing is what you love, more and more. Death will take you as a lover, and together you will wipe all others from the face of the map. Death's Champion! That is who you are and what you will become! Today, chose your destiny boy! You are he! You are he! And I was your first kill, what a privilege."

"No! The Hermit has taught me that Life and Light are the only gods worthy of following. The rest are either amoral or evil. I will never serve Death! Never!" Tommy screamed in anger as he tossed the head away and awoke with a start in his bedroom. At the door was his great-grand uncle, Quences, 422nd Kithriarch of the House of Lungbarrow staring at his nephew and heir with intense puzzlement.

"What's wrong, scout? You leave dinner early and head straight for bed and I find you in here writhing in your sleep at 7 o'clock in the evening. Your brother won't say a word to me, what's his game? But more importantly, I want to know yours," Quences said before sitting on the edge of Tommy's bed.

"Don't call me scout," Tommy seethed through gritted teeth at Quences, Tommy didn't like every old man he knew calling him the same thing his Grandpa Lou always had. All in all, Tommy loathed the attention, Quences gave him. He was the least responsible and showed the least aptitude of his uncle's favourites, but still Quences saw him as his heir and seemed to treat him like he was his own son, rather than just one of a myriad of family members.

"Now, Tommy, you know I mean best. I'm sorry if I act like Lou, but I can't help it, he was loomed only three centuries after me you know. And besides, at least I don't act like Stu anymore."

"What is it you want? I'm trying to sleep, I feel unwell."

"Boy, if you were unwell after coming from the River Lethe with that Finster boy I would know. Perhaps, I should call the Devilles over here and they can talk with you?"7

"I don't want anyone to speak with me, uncle Quences! And I don't want any food. I don't want to sleep either. Would you care if I walked the corridors for a while, alone, if you don't mind?"

"As you wish, boy," Quences deigned and allowed his nephew to exit. Tommy got into his Reptar dressing gown and headed for the corridors, his uncle shadowing him for about two corridors before Tommy was in the shrine to the Menti Celesti. There he couldn't help but wander towards the shrine of Death. There was an image of a skull with a jade crystal embedded in it. The House of Lungbarrow had a lot of pride regarding their gods, despite many Kithriarchs never believing, and well they should, the last Champion left when Quences was a boy. This pride stemmed from the fact that each one of the gods had at least one champion chosen from the House of Lungbarrow. Tommy stared at the face on the statue of the Last Champion of Death to come from his House, a man named Igor. It is alleged he died in combat against a Weeping Angel or a Great Vampire during the Dark Times, but the Doctor cared little about the history of his people. He was beginning to consider, maybe being Death's Champion would not be such a bad thing? He could finally see the universe, and the whole of Time and Space as Death's Champion. And if he accepted her offer now she would not target his family and friends to get his attention. Each Champion of the Menti Celesti travelled the universe until their death or dismissal. Perhaps, serving Death would do him well. Then he remembered what he saw in his dreams. His future selves conquering the universe and ruling absolute. He had no desire to rule, he only wanted to explore. All sentient life deserved a chance at freedom and even his eight year old self knew that much. It was a philosophy his father had taught him before leaving. He knew what he had to do now; confront Death and refuse her or die trying.

He knew he would have to perform the Danse Macabre, or "the Dance with Death" which few men survived. But whether she liked it or not, he would never be her champion, out of all the gods. He knew he may die tonight and he merely bowed his head, went to the study and asked Arkhew for some pen and paper. His cousin obliged, giving him all he needed to write this down.

_To the Friends and Family of Tommy Pickles_

_I write this letter to tell you only one thing. Yesterday afternoon, I killed a boy and now because of this I am wanted by Death herself to be her champion. However, her servants have shown me the future should I take this path and it would mean the end of all things good and beautiful in this universe, including Gallifrey itself. I cannot allow her to have me as her champion, if my destiny truly is to kill more and more until… until… I don't know what but it won't be pleasant that's for sure. So, I intend to refuse her and this will mean the Danse Macabre. And a boy my age is hardly likely to survive that now is he._

_Dill, I just wanted to say you better find Mom and Dad. And don't worry, Uncle Quences and our cousins will look after you. Innocet will be there for you, just like she always has been. Chuckie, don't blame yourself, it was either you or me she would have went for. Or hell, even Torvic. But that would mean you'd be dead and I couldn't have that. Just remember, you were always a big brave dog and I love you. Phil & Lil, you two have been my friends for such a long time, and you two keep fighting till your dead. And remember, I might see you in the Tower of Rassilon waiting for some worm spaghetti yet. Angelica, for a mean cousin you taught me a lot about the world and I am forever grateful. Kimi, your secret is safe with me you can assure Chaz of that, ever since we met and beat Coco you've been just as much of a friend to me as your brother and the twins. And Mom & Dad, wherever you are, I hope to see you at the Tower someday, since I probably won't ever see you in the flesh again._

_To Dill, I leave my room and my books. To Chuckie I leave my courage. To Phil & Lil, I leave my dad's collection of weird things from across the universe. To Kimi, I leave my Reptar merchandise and your dad's Tardis, if I can't have it then you'd be his next choice. Oh, and my sonic screwdrivers. Goodbye, all of you. I guess this is it. So long._

Tommy had to stop writing after that he could feel sleep and hunger begin to overpower him. He bound the letter and brought it to Arkhew. "Cousin, I beg of you. If I should die, give this to Quences," he implored the studious cousin. Arkhew was clearly puzzled as to why an eight year old boy might have a last will and testament. He merely nodded and took the scroll from Tommy placing it in a chest. Tommy nodded and began to walk out of the library. He didn't make it five yards down the corridor before fainting.

Now he was on a planet burning surrounded by mysterious planets in the sky and people running from those hateful creatures of metal he had seen in his last dream. All around him was death and destruction and several people ran before him. All of them screamed for a "Doctor!" Tommy didn't let them phase him and proceeded down the street. "Where are you, Death? You've got me where you want me! I demand a confrontation! I invoke the Danse Macabre!"

A flash of light appeared in the street and standing there was a blonde woman carrying a large gun, at first she looked at Tommy with a smile which slowly turned to a grimace. "I take it you're the new Head of Torvic?" "You couldn't be more wrong, boy. I am the woman you just denied her right as an Eternal of the Menti Celesti. And hell hath no fury, like a woman scorned," she replied. "Tell me then Death, why this form?"

"The girl whose body I'm using? She's from your future, your very far future. In every reality, she is. Even in my world. She could be your queen over the universe and never ever leave you if you choose to go with me. Rose Tyler, that's her name. You will love her one day, and she'll be taken away from you. That is if you continue your life the way it was going before you killed Torvic. If you choose today to join me, you and she will never part."

Tommy was suddenly struck with more future memories of flashing images. This time the spiky haired man was screaming as the same blonde woman fell into a white gap in the wall. Tommy reached out in desperation for her to grab his hand. The spiky haired man had different clothing now he seemed to notice. He was wearing the same trench coat the blonde man had been wearing earlier. Then more images of them together, him and the BFG he had seen earlier dancing with her and Captain Cheese with them as well. These were pleasant memories, ones with fun and laughter, not death and destruction. Even if the woman he loved did die, the moments he spent with her and all these other people would be worth it.

"Sorry, Death. No dice. I'm afraid our dance must go on, fair lady."

"Very well. I shall miss you, Tommy Pickles. You had the most potential of any champion I ever chose."

Tommy leapt at her and they proceeded to lock arms and fly into the sky. Soon, they were in the middle of the battle, one struggling to defeat the other in this wrestling match. Her power would surely destroy him, but he had a feeling she might hold back. They flew so far into the sky that soon they were in the constellation of Kasterborous. She bit and mauled him whilst he merely resisted each attack with gusto and continued to maintain his grip on her. Death proceeded to open her mouth to reveal a gaping maw of fangs and what appeared to be a black hole. Tommy started to feel the life sapping out of him, until suddenly both of them crashed into a rock where Gallifrey was supposed to be.

Tommy came to on the rock with Death standing over him looking less like Rose Tyler and more like his mother. "Quit taunting me, Death. I have made my choice and that is to not be your champion." Next, she took the form of Lil Deville, then Kimi. "I'm eight, do you honestly think girls are going to persuade me to become your champion?" "You are very mature for a Timeling your age, I was merely complimenting you on that front."

Next, she took on her true form. A creature with a skull embedded with a jade crystal and a voice so booming it deafened Tommy. "I guess this is it then, you take my regenerations and I die here. Just like the Hermit said you did to all those who challenged you to the Danse Macabre. Except him, he beat you. If only he had told me how." Death laughed with great passion. "You naïve boy, the only people ever to defeat me have struck a bargain with me for their life."

"What kind of deal would that be, your dreadfulness?"

"You could be my champion, or someone of equal merit. The rest of the Menti Celesti claim that Time claimed you in a past life, back when Gallifrey was founded. I've decided it's your choice, as there is only one other candidate to become my champion apart from you."

"And who would that be?"

"Chuckie Finster."

Tommy was stunned for a moment, either he had to become Death's Champion or Chuckie did. There was no two-way street, he knew that even if he died, which was very unlikely considering how Death continued to toy with him, Chuckie would become Death's Champion with no one to oppose him. And his dreams had made it clear that Chuckie would fight him as Time's Champion if he chose Death. Chuckie was the blonde man in his dreams with Captain Cheese and the attractive black girl. He was the spiky haired one with the ever changing clothes. He knew something that Death didn't. If he became Time's Champion, or whatever, then Chuckie would become Death's Champion soon, and he would still have a chance to prepare and stop Death and Chuckie in their future schemes. But he would have to be the nemesis of his best friend in the universe. It looks like he had to live up to his old childhood mantra….

"A Time Lord's gotta do, what a Time Lord's gotta do."

"Your decision, Tommy? It's now or never."

Tommy looked Death dead in the eyes and said….

"Take him."

Death let out a cackle as the whole room shook and collapsed with only Tommy lying in a hospital bed. He was in the hospital at the Capitol. They had clearly pumped him full of food via tubes. It would have taken a long time to get him here and the calendar suggested that three days had passed. His fast was over. He couldn't quite remember why he took the fast in the first place though.

Then he remembered that terrible secret from three days beforehand. Chuckie had killed Torvic, when Torvic tried to drown Tommy because he heard Tommy was half human. Chuckie did it because he loved his friend. Tommy and Chuckie had burnt the body and Tommy had visited the Hermit, who told him to fast. He must have blacked out and gone comatose from all the stress and starvation. He desperately wanted to see Chuckie. He wanted to help his friend, but he still felt weak. He took a look at his chest and saw claw marks with green coming out of them, the marking of a skull seemed to be on his chest. He couldn't fathom why or how this had happened, but he thought that it must have been some feral beast at home. Tommy checked the time, it was 3 o'clock in the morning. He realised sleep was needed right away before he went to House Oakdown to see Chuckie.

**The Eye of Orion**

The Doctor woke up agog with Time still standing over him. "How exactly did you save me there? I'm still fucked up because of that shite. And now I know again that it's my fault he was fucked up too. What do you want me for anyway? Cannae tell that Death wants me more than you do, so why don't you fuck off?"

Time chuckled. "Yes, Doctor. My mother needs you quite urgently. She's in terrible danger and she needs our help."

"Help, she's a fucking goddess. Who could she possible need help from?"

"The Master."

"He serves her, he's her champion last time I checked."

"He hasn't been since the Time War, I'm afraid. The Year that Never Was and the Toclafane were all his doing. Not hers."

"He's dead anyway. I watched him die on Gallifrey battling Rassilon. Leave me be and go and save that bitch yourself. Now I've got more fucking shit to brood on. Thanks very much."

The Doctor extended his middle finger at her and Time continued to laugh. "If the real Clara could see you now," she said before dissipating.

The Doctor just sat down took out his sonic screwdriver and projected an image of him and Chuckie as babies onto a nearby stone wall. All that came next was tears…


	5. Sex, Mind Control, Hybrids and Toclafane

**London, 2008**

Her master was a great man, of that there was no denial. She had loved him for so long and knew she had to work hard to bring him this far. The night he returned to her, to Vivien, was one worthy of the gods themselves. He chose Vivien in honour of Alfred Lord Tennyson and Rook in honour of Edgar Allan Poe. He found her after he came to Earth hunting _**him**_ and the Hand of Omega. She told her master everything she knew about him, though the Master seemed not to know of the man she spoke of. A small man with an umbrella and question mark motifs adorning his clothing with an angry young woman in combat gear. They took her masters away from her, her Daleks. They had stopped her Supreme Dalek seizing the universe with the Hand of Omega and crushing that Kaled scum Davros' Imperial forces, and now they were going to pay the price. She was only young then, and they had made her so vile and putrid. Her mind had thought up so many wonderful ways to kill for the Daleks. It would only make sense that she should do the same for the man she loved. She had given him a name to get the English nationalists rising in their masses, Harold Saxon. It only made sense that he would one day be the Prime Minister of the first UKIP government, with such a pro-English and anti-Norman name. Harold from King Harold Godwinson and Saxon from the Anglo-Saxon people, the English.

When her first masters died, she met her new master. He had fallen from the sky all red haired and fiery, with nothing but anger in his veins over a betrayal by someone he kept calling Aillia. She had forgotten her name before the Daleks came, so like I said, he chose hers and one day she would choose his as well. She loved him no matter how much pain he put her through, but now this? Another woman. Sure, she had recruited followers into his Cult physically with her feminine wiles over the years back when it was the Cult of Thascalos (she thought he needed a new pseudonym designer for once in his lives, every single one he picked was just master in another language. No wonder UNIT managed to imprison him for over a year). They say that behind every man there is a brilliant woman and it had always been her. She communicated with the Nestenes, the Doomsday Weapon, mind parasites, taught him how to summon Azal and other gods, the Gaderene, all of it. Now he had returned after her mind told her that he must be dead. In the Doctor's Tardis, he had stumbled blindly back into her arms and she had been there for him. His genius and her disciples with their skills had done everything for him. She wanted to tell him, now that he was returned, that she loved him. Then he had to go and claim a bride.

The night they bound Death was a special one for her. She wanted her master to rid that bitch from his life so long ago. He needed an intelligent, strong, mortal woman to command him, not a petty goddess like her. She had no idea he would claim her as his wife. She faked the marriage, her background, everything, just so he could be with her. And it hurt her, every step of it. Her master, her love, had sold her out for the Grim Reaper. Yes, his public image improved and the Cult infiltrated political parties weeding them out, until eventually at the emergency general election caused by the vote of no confidence in Harriet Jones, UKIP seized control under Harold Saxon. Her master was very nearly master of the Earth. But at that point, she had lost all love for him, so she decided to use her against him.

Her life up until 2008 was one of hardship. She had been born in the year 1955 in London to working class Catholic parents, she had an older brother of ten years though she could barely remember him. When she was seven, the Daleks came. In 1962, her father and mother disappeared as did she, only to resurface on the streets surrounding Coal Hill School. The Renegade Daleks led by Dalek Prime (the Dalek who allegedly exterminated Davros at their creation), had conditioned her to be their super-computer. She strategized all avenues of capturing the Hand of Omega, even the Doctor's appearance, which was essential for its capture. She tailed the old Doctor and his granddaughter all across London during their time in 1963, all the way to Totters Lane with Ian Chesterton and Barbara Wright. She had sabotaged the Tardis to bring him to Skaro for interrogation, unfortunately he had ended up in the wrong period, when the Daleks were united and unaware of his existence. How delighted she was when another Time Lord came a month or so later, but this was not just any Time Lord, it was the same Time Lord. The Doctor had aged a lot more than a month since the last time she had seen him. She once again infiltrated Coal Hill School to tail him. She battled him and the Imperials shortly after that, and oh, what a battle it was that day. But her masters were defeated and her mind left broken, still a little girl, but a very clever one indeed at only eight.

Her master arrived in the summer of 1970, she had been hunting the Doctor for a long time now in search of vengeance and so had he. She nursed the Master through a regeneration for the next few weeks. His new body was more austere, with a swarthy complexion and a handsome goatee. She had tracked the Doctor down to UNIT as their scientific advisor, this one younger than the one who had destroyed her masters in 1963. When she was a little bit older, she and the Master had a sort of sexual relationship, she begged him to allow her to join him in the Tardis together. In 1980, she became pregnant, she never told the Master but she had the child in secret and gave it up for adoption, she never really saw him in his handsome, goateed body after that, only as a pale pastiche of the same man who seemed to be more obsessed with the Doctor than with her. She couldn't even remember the sex of the child, only that it did not belong. She gave it to an orphanage allowing it to grow up in seclusion away from her. The Master would impregnate her again in 1995 and the birth resulted in triplets. She released them into the care of the state as well. Over these years she had recruited followers from all echelons of society, and bound them to his will. What he could do, she could almost always do better. She was his Lady Macbeth incarnate. All of his followers in the Cult of Saxon stemmed from her. Including her own father, Richard Lazarus. The little girl wished she'd never met the vainglorious Monty Burns that was her elderly father tortured by the Daleks before he was rescued by the Doctor. However, her master needed his genius and technology for his grand plans of resurrection. She told him all about his four grandchildren, but all he cared for was eternal youth and not his daughter who could have been dead for over forty years. She had delighted at the news of his mutation and death. As for her brother, he went to an orphanage in his late teens after surviving a Dalek energy blast. She believed him to be a simpleton after the brain damage surviving such a thing must cause.

And now that Lucy Reaper creature was his wife? She could not live with it. That's why she had the dossier. She didn't quit her day job to serve Harold Saxon. She was a fully qualified journalist for the Sunday Mirror, and she decided to take him down the hard way. Hit his wife where it hurt. Lucy was in denial about her past as a goddess of the Time Lords, but Vivien decided to release her from this vice. Upon Harold's inauguration, she visited Lucy and tried as best she could to tell her everything. Lucy had never met her before, and Vivien was unaware of how honest a marriage it truly was. Then the Master walked in, acting as if he did not know her at all. After a brief villainous monologue he clicked his fingers and said…

"I am the Master, and these are my friends."

Three spheres appeared in the room and advanced on Vivien as she screamed. She awoke three hours later in the same warehouse they had bound Death, she was disfigured and broken. The lights had dimmed and all she could feel was agony. The Master advanced from the shadows with two UNIT soldiers they had recruited by his side. "Those are the servants I didn't need you to recruit, my dear Vivien. They joined me without your PR genius' help. The Toclafane, oh, my most genius plan. I couldn't even tell you about it, for I lost my trust in you after my wedding day. Did you honestly think I'd betray you to Lucy? I have no love for the girl, in fact I hate her more than any other creature in existence. Though, unlike you she has never betrayed me, only used me in her days of almighty power. You informed the Doctor and Torchwood about Archangel, Lucy would never do that. Naughty girl, Vivien."

"If you kill me, Harold, a further message will be sent to the Doctor telling him about the Toclafane and how to stop you. I came up with this plan! I deserved to be your empress, by your side! Think of all we've been through. Think of the children I bore you!"

"What? Children. My children? Ha ha ha ha. I get it now. And to think I thought I needed "secret Books of Saxon" to save me from death should it occur. No, what I need is a biological host. One with the same DNA as me. You, Vivien, shall live through this day. You have done me a service. But only if you tell me where the kids are."

"Really? You'll spare me, my love."

"Well, when I say this day, I mean I'll give you another half an hour, it's half eleven at night. But only if you tell me where to find them."

The next few days were blinding torture for Vivien as the man she loved ordered his goons on her whilst he vacated and conquered the planet. Vivien was eventually released into the wild after the info was transmitted to the Valiant about the locations of her children. She cried as the Master relayed their capture and recruitment. Her son, Dr Tom Milligan, escaped though. She had escaped at that point and led her eldest son to safety, she told him to find Martha Jones, the legendary hero of the Earth. The woman who could kill the Master, she never told him who she was or why she cared. He just didn't look a gift horse in the mouth, that's all.

Time was reversed but Vivien remembered it all, you don't go through Dalek conditioning at the age of eight and not become sensitive to the complexities of time and space. She could see the Year that Never Was without necessarily being part of it. Vivien had lost her job due to her disappearance and her implication in the murder of Harold Saxon. Turns out her triplets were on the Valiant and were thirteen year old UNIT commandos who helped cover up their father's death aboard the Valiant. Torchwood were given her as a private prisoner. Lucy Saxon was merely imprisoned at Her Majesty's Pleasure.

Vivien lay awake all night cutting herself ever since she had been eight. She loved the agony even when it ruined her. This is why that night Pain of the Menti Celesti came to her, but that story is lost to the annals of history. Vivien Rook only needed a summary for her role in these events, the other characters are going to need a lifetime. As she lay battling Pain, she saw the memories of another important figure he had touched, during a very painful moment in her life.

**Gallifrey**

There he was, Tommy Pickles of House Lungbarrow. The brightest and probably the kindest boy she had ever known. Kimi Finster was more comfortable on Gallifrey knowing she had a friend like him t, and a father like Chaz and a brother like Chuckie, than she had ever been on Earth with only her loving mother, Kira. Even after what her brother had told her a week ago, she couldn't help but feel happy to see Tommy. He put a smile on every face when he walked into a room, which was the reason why he and Chuckie were such good friends despite their differences. His love of Earth had led to a bond between him and Kimi he didn't have with the rest of them. They would swap jokes about human and Time Lord Cultures. Some days he would spend all his time with her and Chuckie in Oakdown. Apart from the singer, Susie Carmichael, she had no friend like Tommy. Tommy Pickles and she had always been the adventurous ones, even in infancy. It was her who taught him the follies of Time Lord Culture and him who taught her the hidden beauty of human culture and people. She had arranged to meet with him to talk about what had happened with Chuckie a week ago.

"Tommy. How are you? I heard you had to go to hospital?"

"It's nothing, Kimi. Just a disease that any Gallifreyan can cope with. I can't even remember being sick."

He started coughing frantically as Kimi reached out to support him. She noticed he had been limping towards her up the hill. They had decided to meet near the Cadonflood River, in a valley where nearly all the Great Houses met. No one came here except Outsiders and travellers, and no Outsider would touch an honorary Shobogan like Tommy. Yes, Kimi knew he was one of them. She also knew about his mother, his family relationships and his troubles at home. She expected Tommy to open up to her about Torvic if he wouldn't to Chuckie.

"Tommy, anything on your mind? Anything you want to tell me?"

"Uh, no…why would there be?" Tommy stuttered as he clutched the back of his neck.

"It's just…Chuckie came home…awful upset…a while ago and I hoped you knew why. Are you two fighting?"

Tommy didn't reply to that question, instead he merely said "We had a deep discussion you know about private stuff…things."

Kimi gave him the same agitated look that several girls in cartoons have over several decades when they knew someone was lying, most famously portrayed by Marge Simpson when she goes "Hmmm."

"Tommy, why did you murder Torvic?"

"Whoa, is that what Chuckie's been telling you? I swear, I didn't do it, it was him. He just went crazy and I don't blame him. In fact, I would have done it had it been Chuckie."

Tommy began to make a mad dash before Kimi grabbed him by the ear: "You liar! He told me you did it to protect his family and him from the Purists."

"Kimi, Chuckie did it. My head was underwater the whole time it happened, I very nearly died. It was Torvic or me, I'm grateful for what Chuckie did, I really am."

Kimi decided to relinquish the argument, instead walking off without saying goodbye to the boy she shared everything with.

Tommy cared for her she knew that, she realised she could never speak to him again. Well, they could be friends and they'd always share so many things together, but she didn't want him to be there for her or her for him if he would lie about her brother like that. She would be there for him, but less so. In her dad's garage where he kept his Tardis sometimes, she found her markings about the two of them. "T.P. + K.F." She would never tell anyone about her and Tommy's once beautiful friendship they had shared in secret. She merely placed her hand on the drawing, silently shed a tear and then walked away. Her childhood crush was over.

As she polished her father's Tardis down, she saw Chuckie walk in looking shiftier than he did before, guiltier than Tommy looked certainly. "Strange" she thought and went back to polishing the old Type 40 just like every other day.

News came in over the next few years, Tommy's parents returned to Lungbarrow a lot older and a lot more different than before, his grandfather continued to live in the Capitol though. Chaz set up a business in the Capitol called the Java Lava, which served delicacies from several other planets and galaxies, particularly the human delicacy of coffee. Chuckie and Kimi were employed there alongside Betty, the mother of the twins, Phil and Lil Deville. Those two, well, I suppose it's time we talked about them at this point. Read on, seekers of the truth.


	6. The Twins of Time

**A Type 90 Tardis, 2016**

Life…sweet blessed life…she had only been alive again for five hours at this point watching her planet die again in flames and the Rani stalked the universe again. During the Last Great War in Heaven, she had been decapitated by a Faction Paradox assassin. Thankfully, the Time Lords re-loomed her and she looked to be her old 900 year old self again. Her old statuesque, domineering appearance had been restored. She thought back to how now she could battle the Doctor once more with other survivors, there were many of them now. An army to avenge their planet for its second destruction by the Doctor and his companion Clara. And a new order with a new Gallifrey, just like they had believed all those years ago, but the Doctor betrayed that belief for his own selfish reasons. Gallifrey had just died once more but she had escaped aboard her Tardis, with company.

Sitting in a chair picking his nose and playing with a yo-yo with his monk's habit thrown on the floor, and a new Einsteinian suit with a smart polka-dotted bow tie and a tweed jacket not unlike the Eleventh Doctor. He looked less like a monk and more like he did when he worked with the Daleks against the Doctor's eighth incarnation. Yet the Rani would always see her twin brother by the title he used as Death's Champion (an office he executed far more poorly than their old friend the Master would have, then again he was to incompetent for her as well), Mortimus, and he had taken to calling her by her old chosen name of Ushas. "So, sister, when do we get our revenge on the Doctor? I can't wait to gut that coward for what he did to our home world," he said impatiently. The Rani gave her younger brother by two minutes a stare that only he ever seemed to resist, her argumentative stare. "When you have the balls to kill another one of his companions, oh wait, I heard she killed herself to stop the Daleks. Is that so, Mortimus?"

"Nuh uh, Ushas! I killed that Lucie Miller bitch myself," her brother retorted with defiance, his finger slipping out of his right nostril covered in blood. For a man of 1200 he really did act a lot like his infant self.

The Rani laughed at her brother's misfortune as he rushed to the bathroom bleeding profusely. He and she had been inseparable before their third regenerations, then they sort of drifted apart. He had wanted to dress like a Catholic holy man living alone in monasteries, a bit like their former acquaintance, the Hermit. His other ambitions involved getting rich and altering history. Whenever he tried to do the latter the Doctor always seemed to stop him. The Rani seemed to have him in the way as well, but she had managed to fulfil most of her ambitions. She wanted to rule the universe and be the most stylish dictator of all time. Dying her hair was a common practice of hers, a new colour every week, just like in her pre-teen years. Her mother, Betty, had always taught her to be an assertive woman and she was, she ruled several planets with an iron fist. She was worthy of being Death's Champion, but all three of her male childhood best friends had come closer than she ever would. She had decided instead to become Pain's Champion for a period of time, but abandoned that pursuit when she realised Pain had ulterior motives. The Menti Celesti had no dominance over her, just like men never did. Yes, she had a crush on the Doctor when they were younger, but he seemed to love Chaz Finster's Tardis more than any girl, with a few choice exceptions. He always seemed to have one with him when he fought her. She never really had eyes for any other man, she had known several and been friends with them, knowing far more of them than girls. In her youth, the Rani had several lovers, both male and female, but she only cared for their bodies, little else. She had Kimi, Suzie and Millennia but that was it for girl-friends. She had idiots like Drax in her group but the only boy she ever considered lack wit that she ever allowed near her or as a friend was her brother. As they regenerated more and more, they grew further and further apart. With their planet gone though, all they had was one another. The Deville twins had more in common than most of their friends even realised. They had both commanded a fighting force together during the Last Great War in Heaven against the Enemy before crushing them. They were so divided that the force seemed to win 50% of the time and lose 50% of the time, and days would be spent arguing on strategies. If it wasn't for Mortimus being murdered in his sleep by mutineers, unity would never have occurred after the Rani purged their troops to avenge his death.

Mortimus came running back into the room, a bit of tissue shoved up his nose. "So, sis. Where do we go from here? I wanna go to the Planet of the Mud People."

"Nuh uh, Mortimus. We're going to Dronid, where we will recruit more followers. We need to recruit forces immediately for our vengeance campaign."

"Come on, sis. I wanna go play in the mud, you've become so annoying since our resurrection. We're alive again and we're no longer at war, but you still have to go and get straight into combat mode. Why can't we reconnect? How many chances did we get to reminisce fighting the Enemy."

"Mortimus, our parents died by his hand when he used that Moment the first time and again by that Dalek obsessed whore of his. I won't rest until we finally destroy him and all that he loves."

They argued for about ten hours that day, until eventually the Rani relented and soon she and her brother were back enjoying their childish exploits with mud people. They were one of the Rani's enslaved species, so their tropical mud baths were easily used by the siblings. All they did was fight with it.

The immaturity of these two had resurfaced due to the fact that they had been recently resurrected with new regenerative lifespans. Their sibling love had resurfaced and it felt as if the twins were back to cause havoc. They had the same thoughts almost, the same dreams anyway. The same memories…

"So, sis? How come you never got a man in your life? I know I don't have a girl but I'm the solitary type," Mortimus said whilst relaxing in the mud bath.

The Rani sighed and then answered with "Oh, brother. You know the only man for me was our mortal enemy. And he never looked at me twice. Instead, the closest thing I've got to a man is you for a brother. Despite our differences, I guess we're inseparable. If only he were less selfless, then maybe we could have been lovers."

"Tell me about why you did that, though. What about Maekar and Rojan? Didn't you love either of them?"

"Let me remind you of our thirteenth birthday, brother…"

**Gallifrey**

Smoke drifted into the bedroom of Lil Deville on the morning of her thirteenth birthday. Traffic in the Capitol was strong at this time of day, rush hour. She didn't care for once in fact she rushed downstairs all abuzz and hugged her father, Howard, whose work as a clerk at the Foundry, had made him age a lot, spending days at a time in his office. He had extricated himself for his children's birthday. Today was also two weeks since her application to the Prydonian Academy had been accepted and her parents had decided to throw her and her twin Phil a birthday bash for both of their acceptances. Phil's acceptance was more surprising, whilst both siblings were talented and intelligent, Phil lacked the academic aptitude his sister had. Being average working class Time Lords at the centre of economy in the Kasterborous Sector they should have grown up to be worker labourers. Her parents were incredibly proud and seemed to care enough to let go of all problems with work for one day. Betty had grown up in the mines in the south, where snow and sub-zero temperatures were common. She was almost an Outsider, had she not lived in a mining village, her culture would be very like that of the Outsiders. Lil wished her mother was an Outsider, their culture and practices were a lot like what renegades like her longed for. Her mother now worked with Chaz Finster in the Capitol at his Java Lava coffee shop.

Phil rushed down the stairs to his sister and they both danced. Lil thought back to their lives together, they had their differences but in her early teens she had come to accept their similarities. They had both looked into the Untempered Schism together at eight, they had both had their first kiss with a pair of twins from the Shobogans that Tommy introduced them to, they both read a lot of the same books. The only difference was their love of other cultures: Phil liked disgusting things and money, she like the empires of this universe, the Daleks, the Cyrrhenians, Coca-Cola, etc. Lil was a lover of all things to do with power, but she never demanded leadership of anything, not yet.

Phil and Lil were more than happy that their friends would all be there, with the exception of Dill who was still stuck studying for the Academy at the House of Lungbarrow. Chuckie had been living there for a year anyway so they had grown closer with him again, and Tommy had moved into the Java Lava with Kimi as Chaz had found a couple of spare rooms considering Tommy would be attending the Academy. Well, Tommy slept inside Chaz's Tardis, if you could call that a spare room. He even personalised the place, made it his own nest with a hammock, Reptar posters, basically everything Tommy liked. Suzie Carmichael and Angelica Pickles were there anyway so Phil and Lil had managed to truly reconnect with the kids they had once known so well, back when Howard worked as a personal assistant for Quences, Tommy's great-grand uncle, the celibate recluse who was obsessed with Tommy, even publicly calling him his heir. Apart from Tommy and his immediate family, Lungbarrow offered little in terms of pleasantries for the Devilles, which led them to live in the Capitol, with Howie having to work nights, while Betty worked at the Java Lava.

Lil and Phil knew the score, they were meeting Dill on the outskirts of the Capitol at night with their other friends to go for a booze fest with the Shobogans. Their respective lovers were part of that tribe, those twins were both a few years older but they seemed to connect with the kids, in a sense that Time twins do. Time twins are quite unique in the sense that Time Lords have a planned conception via looms in houses, making twins the accidental splinter of an already created person, which would explain why two sets of Gallifreyan twins would be similar. If one from either side had chemistry with the other, then it's highly likely that the other one would as well with a 99.9% chance. It would depend what traits the time twin took from the other. Their taste and attraction to others was certainly one thing they shared.

Howard and Betty gave Phil their presents. Lil received something she had been wanting for a long time, a doublet found on the planet Ribos worn by the Graff Vynda-K, a man whom she admired yet detested in the history of the universe whilst Phil was given a preserved Kaled mutant from a battle on Spiridon that a human peddler had sold to Chaz many years ago. Lil wore her doublet while Phil brought his new pet whom he called Extermopuss out to the party that night. Their parents had spent the day with them in the Capitol visiting the sites and meeting with people such as their grandparents. Now they had finally arrived outside the city where their friend, eleven year old Dill Pickles, awaited them.

"Good evening, my esteemed connoisseurs of Shoboganery and intoxication. Are you ready for a night of tomfoolery by the slopes of Mount Perdition with everybody's favourite tribe of Outsiders?" Dill said in the most showman like manner possible, exuding confidence and tenacity. He was wearing a blue suit with a broken Time Ring on his arm which he used for fashion purposes, seemingly. He was not one to imbibe ale himself which the Shobogans brewed but he had a certain taste for their culture which always dragged him along to the sessions his brother held with them. Dill had nothing but curiosity for the world, ever since Phil and Lil had dropped him on the head when he was an infant when they were trapped deep within the Looms of House Lungbarrow. Dill escorted them to the estates of Chaz Finster on Mount Perdition where the Shobogans like to congregate. Awaiting them were Tommy, Chuckie, Suzie and Kimi who had already had a few by the looks of things. As soon as they saw them, they rushed to give them their presents. Tommy gave the twins matching sonic tech, a blade for Lil and a ring for Phil, which had a link to each other. Chuckie gave them a staser gun each he had gotten off the Shobogans. Kimi gave them four tickets to see the Sulky Boys, Gallifreys hottest boy band, for them and their respective partners. Suzie gave them a portrait of the two of them staring into the Untempered Schism and Dill gave them an invention of his each, a pair of shoes that can turn into wormholes, allowing them a mode of escape from tricky situations.

Extermopuss seemed to like the ale, as the Shobogans poured him some into a bowl. Kimi was curious about his species and they told her about how he was a mutant from the planet Skaro, the last remnant of a nuclear war. Back then, they had no idea about the species but they would come to know them very well. The Shobogans were very generous with their ale. After a while, Phil and Lil found their respective lovers, Maekar and Rojan, both aged sixteen. "I like your crown," Maekar commented on his girlfriend's new style. Phil and Rojan just seemed to get straight into the mushy stuff and more beyond that.

A lot of stuff that the Shobogans had taught them was done that night. Drinking, fucking (well the birthday kids with the other twins anyway), dancing and independence in general. Tommy had become an honorary member of these Outsiders because he had been going to their parties since he was a very young child. He had imbibed their ale only recently, swearing he wouldn't imbibe until he was a Prydonian, Chuckie was quicker to the drink. Ever since their adventures when they were eleven came to an end, he started taking more and more drink and now he pretty much spent nearly every night with the Shobogans. Their chief, Maekar and Rojan's grandfather, Lexus, had fostered Dill as a baby for three weeks with his late wife and developed a friendship with the young Tommy, seeing a positive destiny in him. It was he who had directed Tommy to Mount Cadon for spiritual teaching on several occasions. If Gallifrey was Tommy's hard place, then Chief Lexus of the Shobogans was his rock. This party was only held on Mount Perdition because it was Phil and Lil's birthday, and also Maekar and Rojan's. So Chaz Finster was only happy to accommodate the Shobogans here. Tommy seemed to be into the culture enough that he went to Low Town, their home at the foot of the Capitol regularly when parties weren't held here at Mount Perdition. Tommy loved the sub-culture and the fact that Lexus had gone to school with his father, Stu, whom he called "Ulysses" since that was his nickname at the Academy. It was because Stu kept studying and Lexus kept drinking that Stu became a star ship captain and Lexus became an Outsider.

Phil and Rojan seemed to be in her hut all night, but Phil and Maekar took breaks for more booze. Extermopuss seemed happy in the company of Chuckie that night, but Tommy could only leer at the creature with a hateful expression on his face. Tommy had a sort of Lungbarrovian's intuition which he could never explain and Dill never seemed to have inherited. Even back then Phil and Lil thought their friend was too clever for them, how reckless he proved himself to be in the end. Even then, the twins knew that Tommy would most likely end up here with the Shobogans, whilst the two of them would do their utmost to stay in the Capitol. When you want to be a fully-fledged Time Lord then you have to give up on things like love. Even if they lacked lovers, Phil and Lil knew that their bond was too strong for them to be torn apart, even by academic pressure. In the end, they would grow apart, but on one another's terms and because they were older and wanted their own lives. Lil found it hard to give up on either Maekar or Tommy. She had a crush on Tommy despite the fact both she and Phil, yes even Phil, thought he had grown up to become a complete ass. They admired his intelligence and potential but thought little of the way he acted. He was irresponsible, a binge drinker, philandering, lazy and a good for nothing thief. Their friend was nowhere near as heroic as he had been as a younger boy. His one year old self was braver than his thirteen year old self could ever hope to be. The only saving grace was his selflessness in throwing those parties and buying and making them gifts and also being kind in general, though those actions were usually just another excuse for him to clown around. Chuckie was more stoic and serious than Tommy by far, despite the fact he was very reserved he seemed to have slowly grown to love the drink a lot more than Tommy did, but he still seemed responsible, most of the time anyway. Chuckie had entered the Academy on his own merits with higher scores than the rest of them by far. Chuckie was never exceptionally bright, just a bit dorky looking, now he had given up the glasses, gotten contact lenses and grown a nice little goatee. Tommy was very jealous of the goatee, more so the red hair colour than the actual style.

"So, Prydonians now guys! How does it feel to be part of the Academy? We're goanna be Time Lords some day! Then we can hop in my Tardis and never look back! Yippee!" Tommy swooned across seeming to have a ball room dance with the air as he gargled those words. He had had about twenty Shobogan ales at that point and Lexus seemed a little concerned. Chuckie just sat there nursing his thirtieth, quiet as ever with Extermopuss by his side. Chuckie was a very different child after looking into the Untempered Schism, first he had been kinder but a little bit selfish. Then after hitting twelve, he had become a quiet plotter, coming up with grand schemes for his friends to enact. Tommy looked more like an ass than ever as he danced like a madman beside the fire. His clothes were scruffy, particularly his jeans which were broken up. He had purple stubble showing, with plenty of shaving cuts that looked quite deep, that's what he got for inventing a sonic razor. His hair was unkempt and Lil could see nits in the purple mess that it was. He had a Reptar shirt covered in his own sick with a jacket adorning it on and no shoes, only dirty looking feet, worthy of a pig in shit. Lil still found him attractive even then, but no one else did. Phil thought he was at his most fun at this point, even if he was being immature. "Come on fire! Dance with me, baby! I sure wish my hair was as orange as you, sugar tits! Someone get up here! We all got to dance! Tonight's the night! Phil! Lil! Come on, it's your night!"

Phil exited his hut with Rojan behind him and he seemed to shake his head at Tommy who had pretty much fallen over into his own sick at that point. Lil helped him up and took him over to Chuckie before going to Kimi. Kimi just seemed to roll her eyes at Tommy like he was an idiot, Lil couldn't honestly believe Kimi thought Tommy was irresponsible when she was living with the guy. Kimi admitted she knew Tommy had his good moments, but only during the daytime. At night, he was either out here drinking or inside his Tardis messing around with sonic tech or anything else. Tommy was a shadow of his former self. Lil wanted to ask Kimi, because Kimi seemed to know things about Tommy before the rest of them ever did when they were younger, though she thought it better to leave it alone. All Kimi had been able to tell her was that in the last couple of years, Tommy had just let an unspecified guilt take hold of him. What guilt? He was too irresponsible to have anyone or anything to feel guilty over. Dill on the other hand, was fun and childish but quite responsible and seemed to be the only one of them left with any respect for his elder brother. Dill and Lexus brought Tommy to bed early that night in the honorary Pickles hut. Chuckie seemed to leer at Maekar, Rojan and their friends. Lexus' youngest son, Iniloth, an eighteen year old fighter, Vanir, a male lover of Maekar's, Mysha, a female lover of Rojan's, Mirrabeth, an older cousin of Tommy's from Lungbarrow who dropped out of the Academy and Varshak, the great-grandson of Morbius, the then-Lord President of the High Council, who had been for the past 150 years. Whilst proles like Phil and Lil were unaffected by his great-grandfather's crimes, the upper echelons like the Prydonians saw him for what he truly was and what he could do. Rumours had circled among their friends that he had had several people "burned" from time and space by his Lord Burner. Of course, when it came to a "burnt" individual it was easy to forget someone whose name was forbidden in public. Regardless of this boy's relatives, Chuckie still seemed to look on at him in disgust.

Varshak gloated most of that night about the power of House Dvora above all others now that Morbius ruled as Lord President. He had never known any other President and neither had the Rugrats, ever since their parents were at the Academy had Morbius been in power. Chuckie eventually got involved in the conversation seeming to confront Varshak, for the next couple of hours.

"So Finster, what's it like getting to be a special-ed Prydonian?"

Chuckie remained silent.

"A member of the Imperatorial Family is speaking to you, Finster! Or is your retardation a lack of speech?"

Chuckie remained silent.

"How about I go over there and touch that nice piece of ass sister of yours. You know she looks odd for a Time Lady…"

Chuckie reacted to that, let us just say that punches were thrown and bones were broken.

Not Chuckie's of course, for a boy who had displayed very little physical prowess beforehand he seemed to be capable of breaking the bones of six Shobogans that night who were very much pissed and less so than him. His friends attempted to restrain him from going at Varshak but it was too late. Varshak was the one to die that night as Chuckie snapped his neck during regeneration. Any others seemed to cower in fear as Chuckie left a piece of jade in the boys' mouth. "Listen to me!" he shouted at the Shobogans through a drunken slur. "This boy is the first victim of the Revolution against Morbius! We joined the Prydonian Academy to make a difference and now we can, and I have. I have shed the first blood in the war against the Lord Presidency. Who is with me?" There was a deathly silence as the Shobogans burnt the body and Chuckie was shuffled into his hut, not to be seen again for the rest of the night. Kimi cried not being able to stand the sight of her brother, she ran away and straight into Tommy's hut. Lil heard them talking before Kimi left. "Tommy, you were right! I'm sorry I ever doubted you! It's so obvious now, Chuckie's a zealot! He wants to take down Morbius. He was the killer, wasn't he? Oh, I'm such a trusting fool!"

Through the window, Lil could see Kimi crying at Tommy's legs. Tommy was sat upright appearing sober now as he patted her head. "Well, he may be wrong to have done that. But do you know what? He's right about one thing, if someone's going to take down Morbius, it's goanna to be us."

Kimi smiled that same adventurous smile she did when they were babies and embraced Tommy. Tommy held up his bottle of ale and threw it to the ground saying "Drunkard No More." That night, Lil lay awake beside Rojan (she and Phil were very open minded for Gallifreyans, so they liked to swap either twin when it suited them) and thought of revolution, love and dying young on Gallifrey.

**Planet of the Mud People, 2016**

"Tommy Pickles? I should have known. After all these years, I haven't heard that name in so long. Maybe, it's time we sprung home from the Land of Nod and hunted him down. We need to strike where it hurts the most for him... Earth," Mortimus looked his sister dead in the eye saying these consoling words.

"It's over, bro, Gallifrey is gone."

"That's not like the woman known universally as the Rani to just give up like that. My sister would conquer galaxies and amass an army rather than do that. First we do that, then we march on Earth and take it from him. And when the Earth give him to us, we will abandon them and have our revenge. And if they don't, we use this…"

Mortimus reached for his satchel beside the mud baths, where within there was a box with Gallifreyan markings adorning it, a box very ancient and despite never having seen it before in her life, the Rani knew exactly what it was.

"The Moment, brother? How did you? It doesn't matter, we have it. Oh, you truly are my brother, Mortimus. How could I have ever left you, we will avenge Gallifrey and forge the New Time Lord Empire, side by side. But we'll need more Time Lords than just us two. And maybe some more powerful species…some who would want to take down the Doctor?"

"I like what you're thinking, sis."

"Oh, brother, how did we ever grow apart?"

Mortimus merely threw mud playfully at his sister as their maniacal laughs echoed across the planet's surface. That day was the beginning of the New Time Lord Empire….


	7. An Old Man Dies, An Ancient Man Lives

**London, 2020**

The slab of marble read:

In Loving Memory of Ian Chesterton (27/3/1929-19/4/2020)

And his son

Thomas Autloc Chesterton (11/1/1967-11/1/1967)

Loving Father and Husband.

The now 85 year old widow, Barbara Chesterton, merely stood still at her husband's grave, with her children, beside her eldest, Johnny. They eventually left for the reception after Barbara said she'd follow on after a few more moments at the graveside. She was old now but like Ian she hadn't aged a day since they returned home after escaping the Daleks on Mechanus. Oh, the adventures they had had. The two of them had gotten married and everything after that, because even though they had chemistry before, there was no one with as much in common as them. They never found anyone else who had travelled on the same adventures or had seen the same things as them. She missed her husband dearly now that he was gone, she wondered to this day whatever became of Susan Foreman. The last time she had reunited with the Doctor, he never mentioned his erstwhile granddaughter or her new husband. She figured he never have gone back, she intended to ask him if she ever saw him again, though she thought that unlikely. Any future meetings they had had were pure chance and brief to say the least. How she missed him. If only he were here now, for Ian. She never told the Doctor about how she lost one son, which led her to cherish the other, "Johnny Chess" he had called himself as a rock star. The boy was still her son, he lost a twin that day and Barbara had never let go of him ever since. So much so that she had to get a loan off UNIT to pay for his singing career to boost. Ian never accused her of mollycoddling but Lethbridge-Stewart certainly did. She still wondered about that old man, he had seemingly been de-aged like them. Her youthful appearance had its advantages in the sense that she was never a victim of ageism. Her grandson came to her crying one day for being told he had a G.I.L.F. She didn't know how her perpetual youth` worked, she assumed it was something the Brains of Morphoton had done to her on Marinus. The Doctor could never quite explain, but he said that some companions have had more adverse effects from time travel occur, so they should consider themselves lucky. Ian's death in a car crash had been unexpected at the age of 91. "Oh, Ian. If only we could see him again. Our grandkids would love him. But we can't have everything can we dear?"

"Whoever said you can't have everything is a twat-faced cunt."

Barbara turned round to look for the foul mouthed Scotsman who had just said that and saw nothing. Then suddenly a taller, grey-haired man in a black suit appeared beside her. "Shame, he's gone, Babs! It really is. I dinnae know you lost a kid. Oh fuck me, sorry about that! Hang on, Thomas? You didn't…no…fuck Babs"

Barbara looked incredulously at this potty mouthed, gawking idiot before smacking him. "What is it about older human women and their hands loving to strike my cheek, so much? Eh, Babs, it's me. The Doctor! I came to pay my respects, seeing as I never did back when I was younger."

"Oh, Doctor. Another regeneration. What's with the language on this body, then?

"Uh, my last Scottish body insisted on ditching the accent for a pretentious English one. And the one before him was a metaphor mixing weirdo. So, this one is a proud Glaswegian. I cannae help it, can I?" Barbara merely dismissed his comments before dragging the man who had shown her the universe into her car and driving off to her home, leaving the reception for Ian to Johnny, citing ill health.

Barbara handed the Doctor a cup of tea later on. The Doctor had thrown off his black funeral suit and was now wearing a shirt with bracers that was underneath. "So Babs. How has life been since we last seen each other. When was it, I cannae remember that far back?" Barbara didn't answer him and instead stared incredulously at him. This Doctor was rude, slurped his tea, stained his shirt and though he was definitely older than her Doctor, he was far more immature. "Come on, you're one of few companions who know my name. Show us some love here?"

"Love? A man who I know for a fact has walked in and out of people's lives and damaged them irreparably. A man who I grew to love and respect and helped me was really just a psychopath who kidnaps young woman. Oh yes, don't think I don't know about the Year that Never Was. I'm time sensitive now, of course I do. I also remember Martha Jones saving the Earth. That girl needed mine and Ian's help. We died in Japan saving her you know. I know it means nothing now, but it did then? And you just let that girl stay home broken while you swagger off and continue marching on. And when the Daleks invaded and took our planet, Ian and I's friend, Wilfred, from the senior club told us about his granddaughter. He was cryptic but we knew what he was saying. And don't forget that couple from Leadworth who moved round the corner, who kept having phone boxes appear across the road and then disappearing. Now where are they? Hmm? You locked your granddaughter out of your own machine just to give yourself less responsibility and then weep about her being gone forever, until we take a tragic orphan girl. What happened to Susan, Doctor? And Vicki? And why are you here? What is so special about now that you have to appear and actually acknowledge my existence?"

The Doctor sat dumbfounded for a minute before replying "David died twenty years after we left when he and Susan's son Alex was 15. Alex was not a Time Lord, he was human. He died saving Earth from a second Dalek occupation. He died and so did… many people. The last I saw of Susan, she was alive on an Earth once again ravaged by the Daleks. Vicki left me when we arrived in Ancient Troy during the siege. She became Cressida from Shakespeare's play. I've come because I miss you and…and… I've grown tired of adventure. I'm more than 2000 years old, closer to 3000 if I'm honest. Been telling everyone I'm 900 or so for a while, I was actually closer to 2000 then. I came to the point of death, Barbara. I actually reached what should have been my death on a planet called Trenzalore. History says I die there, but I didn't. I was saved by an impossible girl. She gave me a new lease on life, a new regenerative lifespan and now she hates me. But I should have died, I was content with death coming while I was there. The one thing I wanted to do was save the people I was protecting, and I couldn't do that in death until she saved me. I tried to live to save Gallifrey and I couldn't even do that in the end, so my purpose truly is done for. Now I want to die. I'm tired of adventure. Which is why before I retire I would like to see all my old companions again, one last time. And I owe you and Ian more than anyone."

Barbara walked over and hugged the Doctor with great warmth, seeing tears well from his eyes. "There there, Doctor. Maybe you should hold a reunion, there's a lot of people who know you from this time period and a lot of them could come and see you. One last hoorah, you don't need to die, you can just settle down. On Earth. You've always loved this place and its people. Doctor…Doctor…Tommy listen to me."

"That name, of course, you know my name. I'm glad you weren't on Trenzalore or it would have all been for naught. Remember, I gave you and Ian my photo album. Can I see it?"

"You'll be the first person to see it in over fifty years, but it is yours I suppose."

Barbara pulled down a dishevelled book with an ancient Gallifreyan symbol on its cover. She blew the dust off it and handed it to the Doctor. He opened it…

**The Tardis, shortly after departing the year 2167**

Barbara was sitting in a chair in her and Ian's new room on the Tardis. She and Ian had slept separately aboard the Tardis, because Ian thought it wasn't proper, despite their budding relationship. Now that Susan had left the Doctor altered the Tardis, to give Barbara her room, archiving the original and merging Ian and Barbara's rooms. Barbara was curious as to why the old man would concern himself and he merely laughed, saying they were fooling no one. She thought he was like a pervy old granddad who lived with young people and arranged their sex lives until their next conversation. Ian was busy moving bags into the new room, so Barbara got out of the way when he insisted she sit down. Goddamn chauvinist, if she wasn't in love with the man then she would've decked him one. Barbara shuffled into the Tardis console room, and sitting down in his old oak chair was the Doctor looking at some photos.

"They're pretty, didn't know they still had photos in yours and Susan's time period."

The Doctor was startled by Barbara but quickly calmed down "Oh well, yes, yes my child, we don't for that matter. No, no, we just have holopatho…holopathic…holopathogenic machines which record still images. They can be converted into, uh, film with the right technology. I prefer the old Earth method of developing film into photographs. A digital camera works but it lacks the novelty of a photo album," the Doctor smiled at his assistant getting up to head to the food machine. "Want anything, Miss Wright? Hmm?" Barbara was surprised how unusually polite this old man who had just lost his granddaughter to love was as he twaddle along to his food machine.

"A coffee and some bacon and eggs, please. And Doctor?"

"Yes, Miss Wright?"

"How old are you really? And where are you from? And is Susan really your granddaughter?" The Doctor returned still looking un-phased by these questions as he had been by Barbara caring about his personal photos, or him even.

"I am 396 years of age, Miss Wright. I haven't been on my home planet in sixty years. I come from the planet Gallifrey in the constellation of Kasterborous. And yes, Susan Foreman, is the fruit of my loins, so to speak. I hardly knew her when she was very young. But I've been her guardian for just over fifty years now. And our species is Time Lord. I left to protect an ancient and powerful artefact which can alter time and the laws of physics known as the Hand of Omega. I left it in your time for safekeeping. When I bring you and Chesterfield back I hope to secure it once more. Anything else you want to know?"

"What is your name? And why do you love Earth so much?"

"I remember my name, but until recently I had no idea what Earth was. If I did beforehand it must have slipped my mind. It wasn't until Susan and I were travelling that I found out about you. Now…my name…well my name is…" The Doctor placed his hand on his chin in a "Bebo stunnah" pose whilst clearly thinking. "Tommy! That's it! Thomas Malcolm Pickles!"

Barbara thought that was a very odd, but yet slightly normal name for an alien being. "Why are you called that? Why not something like…"

"Stormageddon, Dark Lord of All. Oh please, if we allowed all infants to choose their names the Dark Lord of All would be a faux position held by more than just Stormageddon himself. Ah, that child of the 21st century. When you and Ian are older you might hear of him. Alfred Owens, quite an important figure in the 2050s, I believe."

"You clearly have a family. So you were married."

"Yes, I was. We had thirteen children, but she…went away and they went shortly afterwards. On my planet, you see we do procreate but only so we can create a genetic template from inside the mother which prevents the unnecessary pain of labour, so we can have as many children as possible."

"Who are Susan's parents?" "My daughter and some dashing idiot. My family have a knack for picking up humans. All of my children seemed to marry someone of another species."

"When did you become a father, Doctor?" "When I was very young, even by human standards. I had a son, I called him Tommy Jr. Would you like to see him?" The Doctor pulled out a photo from the album of a chubby little baby with purple hair and brown eyes. "He's very beautiful, Doctor, what became of him?"

"I can't remember, like most of my children he left Gallifrey before me. My memory is like a sieve though, young lady, you must remember that."

"Doctor, is this you?" Barbara held up a picture of a bald headed baby with frilly dark hair sticking up, follicle spots and a giant smile on his face with a blue t-shirt and a nappy.

"Yes, that was me as a Time Tot. Thanks for reminding me how nearly four centuries has changed me so much my dear."

"Doctor? You want me and Ian to move in together? How did you know?"

"I was younger than you and madly in love, my girl. How old are you now? Twenty eight? Thirty? I was first with a woman when I was fourteen. And that wasn't even my future wife. She was a savage girl who I had had a few to many with named Rojan? Her lovers weren't too happy about that. I ended up being with them as well. Twins… lovely bunch. Can't really remember them though. It'll come back to me."

Barbara giggled and the Doctor gave her a big toothy smile not unlike the playful one his infant self was wearing in the photo. "You think it's funny do you? Me talking about my glory days? Hmmm?" He squeezed her cheek between his thumb and forefinger, like a grandfather would do to a grandchild. "Oh no, Doctor. It's just on Earth in my time, men who look your age wouldn't talk like that at all."

"Well Miss Wright, you've caught me at my most vulnerable. Consider yourself fortunate I'm being honest today, rather than secretive as usual. You will be the last person to hear these things from me. Promise me you won't repeat them. The Time Lords aren't searching for "the Doctor," I only invented that pseudonym after Susan and I left Gallifrey. Now, be quick your coffee's getting cold."

Barbara ate the nutrition square containing her coffee and breakfast. The Doctor was right, the coffee was cold and bitter. She should have asked for Nescafé. She flicked through the album and spied a photo of Tommy with a red headed boy with a goatee posing together in suits before the same symbol that was on the cover of this photo album. Then a brother and sister, identical in appearance, she presumed they were the twins he took as partners for coitus. Next came a picture of Tommy with a dinosaur like creature called Reptar, according to the side of the photo. Then there was one of a little baby boy called Dill, which claimed he was the Doctor's brother. Barbara found it odd that not only was he a grandfather and a father of many, he was an older brother. For a man running away from home, he sure had a lot of responsibilities while he was there. Barbara had always felt uncomfortable with the Doctor's secrets and now that he was opening up she found it comforting, but yet discomforting in the sense that she knew he would be his mysterious old self again sooner rather than later.

Another photo appeared of Tommy as a young man with a sash bearing the same symbol that was on the cover of the album, along with several others. The red headed boy, the twins and an Oriental looking girl. They appeared to be making some sort of gesture indicating loyalty, as if they were part of a group of some sort. Tommy appeared to have a symbol on the back of his hand which denoted the Greek letters "Theta Sigma." The twins seemed to have the Alpha and Omega symbols, the red headed boy had Gamma and the eastern girl had Upsilon. Behind them was a symbol displayed in a similar manner to the way swastikas were at the Nuremberg rallies. The symbol was a man's head shaded completely in black, with apparent light beams bursting forth from his head, implying enlightenment of some sort, or perhaps freedom of thought. Barbara thought either could have been possible.

The next image was of Tommy on his wedding day with a purple goatee and a dark suit. He had a blue flower with a red stalk in his suit. Barbara thought he looked so young, she imagined the Doctor married once, but she also imagined a man of 396 would've taken his time when it came to settling down. He looked like a child compared to Ian and herself, he looked little older than Susan. No wonder he thought it appropriate that she follow her heart and go with David. She skipped forward a few pages to see a more recognisable Doctor, with a description reading "Happy 200th Birthday, Tommy!" Tommy still had purple hair, though it was turning grey, in this image and he could be seen with his friends from before who also looked slightly older, as well as his younger brother, who had a shock of red hair and a cheeky smile. Despite this, he dressed quite smartly, not in any alternative fashions. In fact, he looked more adult in his fashions than his older brother did then and does now. The twins looked very different, the brother seemed to have lost his hair and bravado, whilst the sister remained standing tall and proud. The red haired boy was quite sinister looking, his goatee was shockingly white now, with his leer had an ice cold appearance to it. Barbara noticed how the picture had been hidden behind a stall similar to an advent calendar, as if the Doctor didn't want anyone seeing this image. Then Barbara finally noticed something important, the Oriental girl was gone. Not just unrecognisable but gone, absent, not present. She was not there. Barbara skipped to the final page and saw first an infant baby whom she assumed to be either Susan or one of the Doctor's grandchildren or great-grandchildren. The next photo was of the Doctor, far more familiar now perusing through "Moby Dick." The image must have been taken by Susan, as he appears not to notice what is going on around him. The last image was merely of the Doctor working as some form of clerk and looking very dejected and unhappy. She knew from that image alone that he was clearly unhappy with his life at home.

Eventually, Ian and Barbara would leave the Tardis. Barbara had managed to get her hands on the photo album during their escape from Mechanus. She kept it in her house out of sight and out of mind in the gin cabinet. After their experiences, Ian didn't want flashbacks so he forbade himself a drop of alcohol or any kind of narcotic substance. In 1967, Barbara had twins. The eldest she named after the Doctor and the Aztec High Priest of Knowledge she had learned to love and respect during their time in Tenochtitlan, Autloc. The younger twin she named after Ian's father, John and their friends from the tribe of Thals they met on Skaro, Alydon and Ganatus. Thomas Autloc Chesterton died due to complications a few hours after being born. John grew up to become known as Johnny Chess, a successful rock star. He even married an Australian girl, Tegan Jovanka in the 1980s. They divorced in 1995, Barbara caring little for the cheek of her daughter-in-law. Her eldest grandchild was born in 1987, Ian Thomas Chesterton, named after his father and uncle. Later, granddaughters Vanessa and Nyssa were born in 1990 and 1993 respectively. She had already had a daughter in 1974 called Vicki Dyoni Chesterton. Barbara realised she had given birth to the first child ever to have those names and wouldn't be surprised if Vicki Pallister from the 25th century who had travelled with her, Ian and the Doctor was their descendant. She meant to ask the Doctor if he knew. Her daughter, Vicki did marry a fellow named Pallister for that matter, Alex Pallister. They had three children: Michael (1996), Danny (1998) and Barbara (2001). Barbara and Ian finally had one last son in 1978, who grew to be seven foot tall named David Temmosus Chesterton. David is currently married to a Filipino waiter named Esteban since 2015. He had become an artist for Japanese manga and was normally out of the country.

Her son Johnny did not remarry again until 2016 to Miley Cyrus. Barbara found it odd that her son could have picked a worse match than that Australian air hostess, but believe me he had. They had a daughter in 2018 called Susan Hannah Montana Chesterton. Johnny's daughter Nyssa had a child in her teens born in 2008 called Thomas. His son Ian married in 2010 and had three children born in 2012, 2013 and 2016; Sean, Joe and Amy. Her granddaughter Vanessa had married to some greedy, industrial oil tycoon who loved money and the poetry of Sylvia Plath from Ireland named Eoin Larkin in 2017 but they had no children. Her daughter Vicki's children had had no children of their own yet. She had brought up her family on the tales of her adventures with Ian and the Doctor, who she told only her granddaughter Nyssa when she was pregnant that her late uncle had been called after. Nyssa had loved the Doctor of all the characters in those tales and revealed to Barbara that her mother had told her similar stories but dismissed them as fiction. Barbara found it hard to believe the Doctor could stomach such a cantankerous woman as Tegan for a companion, at least her Doctor anyway, so she was sceptical to say the least. Ian had always hammed up the stories to the young children regarding his own bravado and saving the day, but always seemed to bring up what she and Susan had done in a fair way. Ian was no chauvinist; in fact his blatant socialism and trade union activities in the 1980s against Mrs Thatcher had converted Barbara from her conservatism just as Tony Benn had converted Ian from his liberalism in the seventies. In 1993, they both described themselves as Irish republicans and knew Gerry Adams quite well. Ian had died in a car crash with a bus while driving his Ferrari back from the Marathon he had just won at 91 years of age. That day Barbara's heart broke in two, for Ian had been her rock through many things. Especially in 2009, when their whole family were slaughtered by the Toclafane. Thankfully, time was reversed in the end and Harold Saxon suffered bittersweet justice. Barbara knew now that her family needed to meet the Doctor… because they needed a man who had experience at being a grandfather.

**London, 2020**

"Doctor, would you deign to come with me to Ian's reception?" The Doctor looked up at Barbara quite puzzled having perused his photo album for a while now. "If I were to let the woman who loved Ian Chesterton the most in all of time and space not join her children in mourning, I'd be a very bad Time Lord wouldn't I?"

"It's probably over now, but we could still come late. I told Johnny I might not show up."

"Nonsense, Babs, we can be there two hours ago."

Grabbing her by the hand, the Doctor dragged his oldest companion into his Tardis and five seconds later they were walking back through the door accompanied by her family who seemed to be serenading the Doctor. "Hope, I've timed this right, Babs." Hearing the sound of dematerialisation the Doctor sighed and leapt from the arms of Barbara's grandchildren and her hulking son, David, who appeared to be groping him and onto her couch. "Come on Chessingtons or Chesterfields or chest of drawers or whatever you're all fucking called! Once in a lifetime chance to meet the Doctor! Peter Pan's come-a-calling!"

"Ha, it is him! Ian always said he could never remember his name. Thought he was a curmudgeonly old duffer," laughed Vanessa's husband, Eoin through his slick goatee while his monocle fell off. "But Grandma I thought you and Grandpa said the Doctor was really old?" Barbara's great-grandson Thomas asked. "You wanna know how old I am, boy?" the Doctor asked lifting the boy up in his arms. "50? 60?" "2787 years old, plus V.A.T." "Whoa, you're a lot older than my granny," the boy chuckled.

The Doctor then suddenly saw a dashingly attractive couple who he recognised instantly due to the fact that like Barbara, they had barely aged a day walk up to him with incredulity. "Doctor, this is my niece, Polly and her husband, Ben Jackson." The Doctor embraced the two of them and Barbara in a bear hug. "Oy, steady on Doc! It's great to see you and all. Poll says you dumped Jamie and the last face you had long ago," Ben laughed as the Doctor heard one of the man's hips snap. "Oh, I missed that Cockney shite coming out of your mouth. And Polly, why did you marry this knob end who stalked you into the Tardis?"

"I wasn't married to him until twenty years ago, Doctor. We married different people, divorced and sort of grew back together."

"Well, like your auntie and Ian, I knew you were both made for each other. And that was back when I never stopped playing with my recorder."

Polly and Ben couldn't stop laughing at their old friend's newfound innuendos. Barbara didn't seem to get it for a while. Polly had always admired the sense of humour of her only aunt. Born twenty years younger than Polly's father, Edward, and twenty five years younger than her uncle Charles and fifteen years younger than Polly's uncle, Randolph. Barbara was only five years older than Polly's late brother, Edgar and seven years older than Polly. When Barbara was seventeen, her mother died after fifteen years of widowhood. Barbara was only nine when her brother, Randolph, was killed by the Nazis in Vichy France. She had known Polly more as a sister than an aunt. Polly and Barbara in fact had children around the same time. Polly's daughter with the drunk chain smoker Jack Prentice, Jackie was born on 1 February 1967, the same year as Johnny and Thomas. Jack was a lout and his death of a heart attack in 1997 didn't exactly wound Polly or Barbara. Polly's daughter, Jackie, had lost her husband in 1987, Pete Tyler, to a car accident. Polly's only daughter and granddaughter had both allegedly died during the Battle of Canary Wharf in 2007, which is why she was very attached to her step-children by Ben and why she had grown closer to Barbara and Ian in their elderly years.

"Well, looks like we'll be inviting the most exciting man in history to our twentieth anniversary, won't we Poll?" Ben chuckled with the same sailor's grin he always had.

"Well, I'm looking to round up some old companions for a get together and I want to make an announcement at this reunion. Call it hubris on my part, but I think maybe it would be a good idea to hold them together. It's a better idea than Ian's funeral, isn't it?"

Polly and Ben agreed to hold their anniversary with the Doctor in two weeks' time and soon the Doctor regaled the Chesterton family with more heroic tales than their grandparents ever had to offer. And the night just seemed to go on and on, but the family had learned that a Time Lord has no care for time. And neither did them…


	8. Keep the Devil

**Baltimore, 2020**

He stalked through the rabble of idiots cheering on the docks of a city in which the sun always seemed to have set. He had come from England to be here at a union congregation in the middle of the docks at eleven o'clock at night. His job was to identify and tail the speaker, a man who seemed to be hiding what they were looking for. And there he was, his voice echoing off the cargo crates. He had a cigarette in his mouth and acted as if he was from the 1920s. Mickey snorted at the thought of the speaker acting like a Mafioso, he seemed too comfortable with the modern standards of living judging by the way he carried himself.

"Each and every one of us to a man is liable for one another and our responsibilities," proclaimed Paddy Black, crime kingpin of Baltimore. "Our associates have very kindly given us a lot of money to protect this business interest. And if we don't then well we don't get rich do we? A sum of thirty million dollars to a man." The dock workers he had been making his speech to perked their ears in interest. They needed money in this new depression under President Newt Gingrich, who since their union was controlled by Black's tax-dodging crime family, they had to support him in the next election. "Now get to work boys if you want to get paid." Most of the dock workers shuffled off back to work either as stevedores and supervisors. The rest picked up a gun and stood guard by each of the giant crates. Then Mickey made his move and proceeded to tail behind Paddy Black whilst talking into a walkie-talkie. "Martha, I've got eyes on Al Capone over here? Shall I confront him so we can get…whatever it is?"

Lying belly down on a vantage point was Martha Jones, holding another walkie-talkie to the side of her face. "Lethbridge-Stewart told us to avoid confrontation for the moment, we're not Torchwood and these aren't aliens, they're powerful gangsters with connections to the American government. Mickey, leave it alone. Keep tailing Blackie but do not interact!"

"More than a decade on the job and I'm still not used to Joan of Arc talking to me from the other end of this thing?" Being freelance alien hunters had been the backbone of their marriage once upon a time, but times were tough so they ended up doing what they could to take down humans using alien tech, for example the Black crime family. Captain Jack Harkness had sent Martha files on the gangsters a long time ago and their affiliation with the death of Vivien Rook in a jail cell in London two months ago. All Rook left was a recording of the conversation with her killers, which revealed that they were union leaders in Baltimore. The Dockworkers Union was thought to be the one, due to its connections with Paddy Black. The criminal dossier of the man only revealed scant bits of information on a D.U.I. But Martha and Mickey both knew he had to do with Rook's death, in the tape Rook had mentioned a man who was older than she, who, like her, had a presence which made it seem as if he walked in eternity. Black was famous for having various D.O.B.s, each one twenty five years younger than the last. The man had most recently been born in 1966 and at the earliest in 1851.

Black stalked into his office, which had a door with an upside down cross on it, and proceeded to lie in a chaise chair. Opening a drawer in his desk, he found a hypodermic needle containing some form of black essence. He proceeded to first swab himself lightly with his own bottle of whiskey, then stab the needle viciously into his forearm. He collapsed into his chair seemingly unconscious as Martha could see via her binoculars his skin tightening. Martha gave Mickey the signal to go in, three flares directed at the other end of the docks. All the dockworkers seemed to head in that direction as Martha made a dash for the docks armed with only a classic Smith and Wesson. Mickey picked the lock to the office and slowly entered. Tiptoeing around the unconscious Black, he took his keys and began to read a mysterious, spindly book he could see perched on the desk. The book was old, very old, in fact Mickey seemed to feel frightened by its age, for some reason he could not tell why.

Mickey proceeded to read each and every word of this book, it seemed to detail the life of a man who made a deal with Death. Death promised him eternal life via a prism of power she claimed lay in the dark corners of the dimension he lived in. She promised him the chance to rule this universe on her behalf and her love for all eternity if he claim it. She sabotaged the man's journey there which caused him to crash onto a planet where Death's servants guarded the prism. He resisted them and her conditioning, took the prism and proceeded to manipulate her servants to do his bidding. He became the first emperor of a culture which lasted billions of years, all vowed to destroy their creator. He resigned the position of emperor to his descendants, and became a god figure, commanding the armies of this race, known to mortals as Nosferatu. They came to our dimension via a rip in the universe created by Omega, the Champion of Time. The creatures came to be known as the Great Vampires, as they realised that the nectar they depended upon in their own plane of existence was in the blood of the creatures of this universe. The bleed in the universe gave them the power to target the planets which had come under the thrall of Death, as this universe was her own native one. Death allowed her champion, Rassilon to command a united army against them led by his people from the planet Gallifrey. These creatures were all but destroyed in the battle with Death's Champion. The war raged for five centuries, eventually with the Time Lords and Death winning. With the last of his energy, Nosferatu imbued Rassilon with vampirism. It is said that when Rassilon was overthrown as President by his own people, they staked him through the heart. Nosferatu's last living direct line descendant, the King Vampire, survived for a period of time in another universe. Nosferatu himself drifted through time, eventually coming to the planet Earth where he has hidden in the shadows biding away the hours since time immemorial.

Mickey shook his head and dismissed the book as grim horror fiction which Black liked to indulge in. He did put it in his bag though, curious as to how Black was unconscious or sleeping and thinking the vampire lore might answer his question. Mickey searched everywhere in the office from top to bottom. It was more like a home than an office, containing a small kitchen, a television and a bathroom. He opened drawers, filing cabinets, skimmed through some of the books but he could find nothing only more cryptic fiction disguised as history. Eventually, he heard a click and some voices through a wall. Mickey opened a grille underneath the sink of this office, to find himself looking into a blood red tunnel. He walked slowly down the tunnel until eventually all he could see was two men with hypodermic needles draining a blonde woman of what appeared to be black goo from her veins, with a large bright fire burning nearby. She appeared to be chained to the ceiling, with dark symbols overwhelming the floor beneath her. The two men looked up at him and bared what appeared to be fangs. No wonder the Doctor always called him an idiot. Zygons, he can pick up on. Daleks, no problem. Time Lords, wouldn't break a sweat. But vampires, Hammer Horror Shit. Well, he learned with experience. He didn't even have a stake with him, or garlic, but what he did have was a mini laser cannon.

Brandishing his cannon Mickey proceeded to blast off one of the heads of the vampires. The creature would take at least a day or two to revive itself from that kind of injury. The other one charged at him with super speed, but Mickey managed to blow open his chest cavity, crippling him. Mickey grabbed him by the scruff of his neck and proceeded to beat him across the face. "Why are vampires controlling the Baltimore Dockworker's Union?" he bellowed into the face of the creature. "To protect… him," it said. "Who the fuck needs protecting? Your cattle? Some nice virgin sacrifices? The Garlic Monster, your prisoner? Who?" Mickey pistol-whipped the vampire brutally across his cheek.

"Gahh! The…the…the Master, Champion of Death," it whimpered. Mickey thought that impossible, the Master had died over a decade ago. Martha told him everything, about the Year that Never Was, the Toclafane and Harold Saxon. All the stuff that happened while he was gone. "The Master died a long time ago. And I highly doubt he's one of you lot?"

"You human fool! He is dead, but his new vessel is far from that." "What do you mean? Her? You look to be protecting her really well there mate." Mickey brandished his weapon at the now unconscious woman. "That harpy does not deserve him. She is the giver of life." "Oh, so she's your virgin sacrifice."

The vampire laughed heartily "That whore? You humans are so idiotic, yet ever so delicious. She is…" A stake was driven into his back and he vanished into dust before he could answer. The woman was standing behind his remains, brandishing what appeared to be a bone from his dead familiar, covered in black essence. "What the hell did you do that for?" Mickey shouted in disbelief. She merely stared at him with a vacant expression. He proceeded to begin communicating with Martha on his walkie-talkie until he felt claws dig into his back and he started to bleed out. The dim light that had been in the room seemed to fade as the woman smiled delightfully.

Meanwhile, Martha was already stuck in fighting dockworkers down below. One giant of a stevedore hurled a crowbar at her before she kicked him in the face rendering him unconscious. Next came, his familiar, a young boy only just employed, but he was fast and faster than Martha was. He managed to deliver several jabs with a knife which wounded her immensely before Martha realised there was only one course of action for this boy. He stabbed, she dived and came up behind him before he had time to react. Placing one hand on his head and the other on his jaw, she twisted and felt the life leave him. The Doctor would not have wanted it that way, but she knew better than him what it was like to be alone in a dogfight. She probably killed this boy before in the Year that Never Was, just couldn't remember. Not as well as all the people she had met in Japan. All of them were alive now, but Martha couldn't help but feel as if they were long dead.

Taking the boys keys she found her Smith and Wesson beside another stevedore she had taken out. The boy had been her only kill. Good, she thought, one is better than all of them. Taking the keys she walked up to the giant cargo crate bearing a hazard symbol, opening the door she saw only darkness. "Hello? My name is Martha Jones. My husband and I are here to help you. We know you're scared but we need to know how you came to be here. Is anyone there?" "Oh, Ms Martha Jones. How delightful?" Martha recognised the voice but not the tone, not the manner. Not immediately anyway. From out of the darkness came a bolt who proceeded to pin her to the ground. She fought the shadow figure for what felt like an hour after pulling free. She put two bullets in his hip but he broke an arm and a leg. Eventually, he disarmed her and proceeded to point the gun at her head. "The drums…the drums…oh wait, there is no drumming not in this new head. Well, guess you want to see the face of the man who kills you, Ms Jones? Well, I'm more than happy to oblige." Staring at her dead in the face was… Tom Milligan. The man she had promised herself to long ago. The man she had watched die for her and then come back to life with no memory. The man who… drowned himself in the Thames during the Dalek occupation. All she had left was Mickey after that and Jack. The Doctor was never around then. Tom was going to kill her. Tom. But if he was Tom, then how come he talked like the Master?

"Any last words? Well, if I were you, I would be certainly making peace with your gods, if you have any that is, only…" Thwack! Tom collapsed to the ground before her as Mickey had seemed to knock him out with a crowbar he found on one of the stevedores. "What did you find on Black?" Martha asked getting straight to business, ignoring Tom's presence. Mickey snapped back into reality and said "This. And something else, I can't quite remember. Here." Mickey handed her the book he had found on Black's desk. "Where's Black?" "I don't know, when I went back to his office he was gone. What the hell is Tom Milligan doing alive and well? You brought me to the man's funeral? And more to the point, what was he doing attacking you?"

Martha merely replied with "Just get him to the truck and we'll keep this under wraps. We've got to get in touch with the Doctor." "Why? It's only Tom?"

"No, he's not Mickey? He's him. He's the man who destroyed our world. He's the Destroyer of the Sea of Japan. The Champion of Death. The monster who gave me this." Martha brandished her arm, showing laser surgery having been done on what appeared to be a serial number, Mickey knew what it was. Her prisoner number when she stayed in hiding in a concentration camp in Indonesia at that time. "He is the Master. And finally he will learn to obey us…"

**London, 2013**

The dead of night was their turf, no one else's. It was under the thrall of their people, even their lesser cousins from this universe. The Great Vampires ruled the night, just as much as he ruled the streets of several cities using the alias Paddy Black. He was only here today because greed had brought him here, here to hunt and harvest and avenge. His failure at vengeance only earned him his exile. They stalked around the graveyard every night, from night till morning. He longed for the taste of mortal blood once more. Ever since she had malformed all that eternity ago, into this being. He had had loving parents, grandparents, siblings, everything, even a lover when he left to find the prism. The man who had everything wanted to rule the universe. Ironically enough he nearly ruled two in the end. That beautiful woman promised him his own but his actions left them to her as prey while he was turned into a vampire, one of her monstrosities

He led his men into battle against her after founding the Empire of the Night. They used weapons to destroy entire solar systems, the universe was a wreck when they were finished, so much so they left it for her one in order to find her. They never did. But her champion, had gone against him. Almighty Rassilon, Lord President of the High Council. Nosferatu had sired him on the field of battle only to lose an arm to him. Nosferatu had no time however for the Time Lords who worshipped the so-called "Vampire Rassilon." He had known this universe when it was young, in a period known as the Dark Times, these infantile hippies had no idea what they were doing. If there was anything he could not stand it was a lesser race of vampires, his lesser descendants. He was their Alpha, and very far from being their Omega. Not until she was defeated would they be allowed extinction, no matter how hard the Time Lords tried.

His progeny were out on a mission to seek out and locate technology used by a renegade Time Lord on this planet. Earth had been his home for a while now, and he didn't want the Time Lords ruining it like they had the systems where their great war with the vampires was fought. Dronid, he still remembered their screams to this day. So much lives lost for her.

Then, a blonde woman was brought before him later that night. He looked into her eyes and saw something he hadn't seen since he was very young. "My dread lady. It is an honour. No champion to stop me this time? Have we?" Death had marks all over this vessel of hers which implied she had been caught in some form of explosion prior to this, which she received scars from. Over the years, the Great Vampires perfected her blood to strengthen them as it allowed them to walk in the Sun when taken once a month. Nosferatu would interrogate her every so often as to the location of her current champion. Eventually, he came to them…

**Rome, 2019**

The man came in the dead of day whilst most of his familiars were in their coffins. He visited Black in his office and revealed the face of a bearded man with an English accent. He said he needed help, that Death's Champion was coming for him. That night, twelve vampires died by the hand of this stranger. The English stranger was punished by having his blood drained. That night, he awoke from death and they knew the truth of this man.

Nosferatu confronted the Mr Hyde figure that night in solitude. They spoke for hours on end before Death's Champion revealed that Vivien Rook had the answers. So that night, Nosferatu went to London and found her and in the name of vengeance asked her who and what the power was and where it came from. She said it was Death's Champion, but that he could defeat them. He has gone beyond her clutches and now he can help them to win their war against her and her enemies. The problem is the bond with his new host, her son, must become permanent. For him to be able to kill Death, Tom Milligan must die.

**Gallifrey**

"_This just in, a gang of anti-government and anti-House Dvora activists have been systematically eliminating our masters, one by one. They are known only as the Voiceless Others and appear to be led by someone calling himself the Deathless. Last night, the Lord President's brother was lynched in a very Terran fashion by these savages. For President Morbius, for Gallifrey, and for the End of Time itself, this has been the interstitial news."_

Chuckie merely switched off the television module and chuckled to himself. His work had come to fruition. He had forged a band of rebels dedicated to defeating Morbius from the downtrodden members of their political group. The more peaceful groups had only one plan that Chuckie and Tommy would have to perform. Find an ancient being and harness their power. Otherwise Morbius and his followers would crush them…


	9. Dialectical Prydonians

**The Tardis, 2020**

A cup of tea and some Karl Marx was an ideal afternoon in the Doctor's mind. Yes, in his new regeneration he had developed a love for the political prose of the 19th century. He had never met Marx or Engels but he intended to do so one day, wanting to debate some theories with them. Thinking of the man who had given him this book made him feel poignant, a man he saw die on Jaconda several lifetimes ago. His stay with Barbara had been brief, after the party he snuck out leaving Ben and Polly his mobile number to contact him for the eventual party. What he needed to do now was more important, he wanted them to meet with him at a later date, now he needed to go to a place he hadn't been to in a long time. A planet known only as the Mordant Graveyard to anyone who came near it. The Mordants had been a people who were given travel by some ancient unknown from another universe, and it destroyed them utterly. Gallifrey knew of this legend from the early Time Scaphe experiments, so they erected a memorial site to them on their world's remains. Having had his feelings wracked by Ian's funeral and getting to know the family of his oldest companions, the Doctor elected to visit the place where his family were buried, well one of them at least.

The planet was desolate, with no sunlight only an anti-time bubble to protect it, the place was appropriately dark and silent. The Doctor activated what appeared to be some streetlamps with his sonic screwdriver. Strange, he thought, but then shrugged it off as a universal similarity or perhaps Time Lord Interventionism. He approached the cemetery area, this place was lit constantly so that one could read the tombstones. The Doctor walked past the shades of previous visitors, various species appeared before his eyes before dissipating. A fish like creature lay a wreath several times over on a woman's grave, an Eternal in a bowler hat and glasses left a bottle of unknown narcotics, Sontarans and Rutans were seen mourning together by a large monument with a statue of two great warriors of either species locked in combat. No one knew their names but they were heroes to both races and their burial ground was known as a place of common ground and pacifism for the two warring factions. Finally, the Doctor came to the Lungbarrow plot. The wealth of House Lungbarrow had been shown off by his ancestors for generations and a plot on the Mordant Graveyard was lavish to say the least. He went in briefly to pay homage to his uncle Quences who was not long buried in comparison to his time of death. Statues of previous Kithriarchs passed him by as he skulked along, each one looking prouder than the next. The catacombs themselves were made of white marble with only a flame to light them onward. The statue was just like his uncle, smug and a bit to genteel. When he was young, the Doctor never trusted the man or his love for him. He only looked out for number one back then, and Dill of course. His brother meant the world to him ever since they were babies. The only selfless things he ever did in the past usually involved some form of self-aggrandisement. He tried to make himself a teenage martyr for the cause against Morbius a long time ago simply to appear as a hero of the cause in death. He still wondered whether if he had died then would it have been a good thing. He quickly dismissed that question with a negative.

The Doctor exited the antiquated plot and headed down a row of decrepit and dilapidated graves. This was where he had buried them. The first grave read:

_Katarina of Troy_

_Beloved companion and friend_

_Died aged seventeen in the year 4000_

_Died for her friends_

_Died in the arms of Zeus_

The Doctor left a statue of Athena by this one. He had found her and buried her long ago with Steven's help after they defeated the Daleks. But he had never once come back. What had River always said of him? That he hated endings. The Doctor remembered she had a grave on Trenzalore. But that was preposterous, now that Trenzalore had survived it was no longer a graveyard. All graves were now exclusive to this place. The second grave, directly beside Katarina's, read:

_Sara Kingdom_

_Loyal Space Security Service Agent, bravest Defender of the Universe, dearest sister and even dearer friend and companion_

_Died aged twenty nine in the year 4000 on Kembel_

_For time and space itself_

_And her brothers, Bret Vyon and David Kingdom_

_Bret died on Earth in the year 4000 aged thirty five_

_David died on Venus in the year 3998 aged twenty five_

The Doctor merely left something he had forgotten all those years ago for Sara. Her badge, her SSS badge which he had kept with him to remind him of the dangers he was putting his friends through constantly. Oh, Sara. She died because she wanted to be by his side for support in case he couldn't defeat the Daleks. And it was the weapon he was using which killed her, very nearly killed him as well, but that wouldn't happen until Antarctica. The third grave read:

_Adric of Alzarius_

_Beloved friend_

_Died a hero in the year 65,000,000 BC_

_For the sake of history_

Next came the girl he nearly gave up life for. She had died for him a long time ago. And he still had to get around to avenging her death. That blasted monk, Mortimus! One day he would find him. The next grave went something like:

_Lucie Miller_

_Dalek Slayer_

_Never a better friend_

_Died in 2298 at the age of twenty two_

_For Earth_

This last grave bore a lot more guilt than any of these people ever had. And they weren't his only companions to die. The Doctor had forgotten the boy who died in a war when he was still on Gallifrey. The boy his wife had cried over for a whole year. The boy who had left him a child just as curious as her father and grandparents before her. His son, Phillip Pickles:

_Phillip Louis Stuart Pickles_

_Beloved son, grandson and father_

_And brave Gallifreyan to the end_

_Died at the Battle of Morrigan_

_Against an unknown menace to creation, in the year 2021_

The Doctor and his wife had been given their son's ashes only a few days before his paramour gave birth to their daughter, Arkytior Larn. The Doctor called her Susan affectionately after his old friend, her mother's mother, Susie Carmichael. The Doctor knew he would never see his son again after that day. Ironically enough, it was Phillip's death which reinvigorated his father's curiosity and created his daughter's. Phillip had a twin sister, the Doctor couldn't remember her name or whether she had been alive when he left. His memory of Phillip only came from this gravestone and his diaries over the years. He had a son and he forgot him. What kind of man did that make him? Perhaps, he was a man who lived in the moment far too much. Maybe his past deserved a look, and now that he remembered so little and after what Time had shown him, he knew it was time to call back his companions for a reunion on Earth. The Doctor couldn't remember why he called the boy Phillip, was it just a name he liked? Was it someone he knew? The question wracked his brains for a while until eventually he saw a door open. It was time for the Remembrance Ceremony.

Planets appeared projected in the air, each one which had been lost to a time traveller. The Lost Moon of Poosh, Pyrovillia, Gallifrey, the Mordant Graveyard itself. The Doctor headed for his old home and touched it with his hand and said "I'm sorry, but you know that you had to die, don't you? Don't you?" The Doctor snapped back into reality for a minute realising he had just been talking to a hologram of a planet. What was wrong with him? He left a signet ring on Phillip's grave before heading back to the Tardis. Inside, all he could here was shouting in his head and regalia. All he could hear was the fanfare of Gallifrey…

**The Prydonian Academy, Gallifrey**

"Do you Phillip Deville, swear to uphold the duties a Prydonian must perform, honour the tribe of your birth, and the Chapter of your manhood, in the name of Rassilon, Omega and the Other themselves?"

"I do," the young man with the brown hair, Tommy's friend Phil bowed before the man in fine robes who uttered these words. All around the hall were Time Lords in fine white robes with Gallifreyan symbols bedecking the hall. The speaker was the Usher of the Prydon Chapter, a man with white clown makeup and a fine dove-like costume all over him. Next, Phil's sister, Lil walked before the Usher as he anointed her forehead in a manner befitting a Catholic priest.

"Do you Lillian Deville, swear to uphold the duties a Prydonian must perform, honour the tribe of your birth, and the Chapter of your womanhood, in the name of Rassilon, Omega and the Other themselves?"

"I do."

This process went on for a period of time….

"Do you Kimi Finster, swear to uphold the duties a Prydonian must perform, honour the House of your birth, and the Chapter of your womanhood, in the name of Rassilon, Omega and the Other themselves?"

"I do."

Finally, it was his turn. Baring himself before the altar, he felt the burning water touch his forehead, he winced a little knowing of the heat from the hot springs on his planet. "Do you Thomas Pickles, swear to uphold the duties a Prydonian must perform, honour the House of your birth, and the Chapter of your manhood, in the name of Rassilon, Omega and the Other themselves?"

"I do."

The Usher beckoned him onward as he stood with the rest of his year before him. "Do you all swear never to betray the High Council, the Imperator and Time Lord Society by the Eye of Harmony itself?"

"We do!" the students proclaimed in unison, with Tommy and his friends muttering under their breaths.

That night, the friends returned to their homes from the Academy feeling alive. The party to celebrate their initiation had lasted well into the night with much Gallifreyan mead provided by some Shobogan kitchen staff. The meals were excellent, to Tommy, at least. The rest of them didn't have a taste of Outsider cuisine. During the meal, whilst devouring the dead Marinus mongoose, Tommy received a tap on the shoulder from none other than his cousin, Angelica Pickles. "Well, Pickles. I see you've made it this far. Good on you, so I take it a boy of your curiosities will be joining our after school club?"

"What after school club?" Tommy asked as his eyebrows piqued with interest at the thought of joining some form of society, anything out of the ordinary on Gallifrey was good in his book. His cousin had invited him to her secret club when they were infants but still he always laughed at danger, even now. She had led him into a lot of dangers in the past, which is why he always seemed to have a love/hate relationship with his older cousin. She was nothing to him like their distant cousin, Innocet, who when he was younger had been kind to him with no strings attached, unlike Quences.

"You'll see," she replied leading him away from the dinner table. He looked back at his friends who seemed to be gorging on food (well Phil was) the rest just seemed to be discussing other things. He followed Angelica through Gothic corridors baring gargoyles, each one modelled off a different species: Dalek, Daemon, Sontaran (the funniest looking one). Angelica eventually knocked on a door and said "The minds and hearts of Gallifrey belong only to one, my brothers and sisters…," Tommy found these words suspicious as his cousin led him into what appeared to be a room full of smart looking students. One of them was an ugly looking tall boy who appeared to be the leader of the group, Tommy recognised him as Rufus of House Dvora, Imperator Morbius' house, therefore making him a relative of Morbius somehow. Another was girl with spiky shrivelled hair wearing black gloves which she seemed to be tearing off with her teeth. She had the look of a Goth human teenager about her, with a pale expression and jet black hair. The others were plain to say the least, one boy looked particularly gaunt with bags under his eyes. The only one of them that Tommy recognised was Harold, his cousin's infamous tagalong, a boy who had found himself drawn to her since they were very young. Tommy felt sorry for the boy, he clearly had little in common with his cousin, who as far as he could tell was probably in bed with Rufus. Tommy was certain his cousin found him in no way attractive, but knew for a fact she would do anything for power. She would be the Presidential mistress, or perhaps Imperiatrix, before the century was out, Tommy knew that deep within his bones about his cousin.

"I'd like to call this meeting of the Prydonian Loyalists to order, I would like to invite our chairman and honoured tutor, Azmael." A man with a full head of brown hair and a small beard presented himself before the class proclaiming "One Imperator! One Chapter! One Gallifrey!" Tommy thought he had never seen a more impressive man as his students seemed to salute him almost immediately. If only he wasn't a Morbius Loyalist then Tommy could see a strong relationship between himself and this awe-inspiring man. In later years, Tommy's children would tell him that Azmael's later regenerations were cranky, old men who cared little for education and more for their passions. But then and there, Tommy only knew the most romantic of Morbius' followers delivering a speech to loyalists. Tommy sat down and listened to Azmael begin his speech attentively. "Yesterday, our dear Lord President, Morbius, declared himself Imperator of Gallifrey in response to the current crisis developing between ourselves and the Sycorax Empire. He feels that the formation of a War Council is the necessary measure that must be taken if Gallifrey is to survive this conflict. And I for one have not seen a thing go wrong throughout his presidency, so I say that we support the new Imperator, for the sake of Gallifrey!" Tommy was impressed by his public speaking but knew that the war with the Sycorax had all been hammed up by the High Council to make it appear as if it was a genuine threat. The Sycorax had capacity for magic but none for time travel, like some of the species during the Dark Times they may have posed some immediate threat to the Time Lords, but not in its current era.

Azmael roused the masses into a chant of "For Gallifrey against the Sycoraxic scum!" Tommy didn't join in the chant but when they were done he raised his head and asked Azmael "So, what is your position on the secret police the Imperator placed twelve years ago across the Capitol and his alleged spies in the Great Houses, Sir?" Azmael scoffed and said "The Imperator does this for our safety from rogue elements such as Pythia worshippers or other magic users, he feels anything could bring them back to Gallifrey and destroy out utopia. Regardless, what can a mere teacher like me truly say compared to what our first citizen might say in response? Who asked that question?" Tommy stood up and Azmael said "Ah, an initiate, I see. Tell me boy, what do you feel about the Imperator." "Nothing Sir. Only admiration for his amazing political skills despite his alienation of a large majority." Azmael placed his hand on his mouth and gave a strong look of interest at Tommy. If Tommy were a couple of years older, he probably would have run away from an older man who did that to him. "Come join me in my study if you want, boy. One as inquisitive as you should be allowed read some books." The students leered at Tommy with envy at the potential he had with Azmael, their respected leader, to become his understudy.

Later that evening, Tommy walked into the grim office of Azmael. In it, there was a desk with a portrait of a shadowy figure on the wall behind it. Alongside the portrait, was the Greek letter Omega which Tommy didn't recognise immediately until Azmael pointed out the fact to him. "Omega? Like the founder of time travel himself?" "Yes, boy. Preylix the plumber, our folk hero who threw himself into a black hole for the sake of discovery. Are you curious as to who I gave the honour of having a portrait in my study?" The eyes of the shadowy figure seemed to bore down on Tommy, as he turned and said "the Other." The Other was Gallifrey's third founding father alongside Rassilon and Omega, and obviously the most mysterious of the three. The man was known for being a figure unknown to the history of his own people, who was allegedly not even Gallifreyan. The last remnant of the Pythias, the culture of witchcraft which ruled Gallifrey before the Time Lords assumed power. The Other vanished mysteriously during Rassilon's purges. "Why do you honour him so, sir?" "Because, like me, he was cut down by the leader he was loyal to. Morbius will kill me one day, he's too jealous of my influence."

Tommy was perplexed by that statement: "But sir, you lead the youth league of his followers at this academy. Why on Gallifrey would you possibly believe he could do such a thing?" Tommy's interest was piqued by the fact that he sensed doubt in the most charismatic servant of his greatest enemy.

"Morbius is jealous of me. Apart from Rufus and very few others, the students follow him because of me. I am the Robert E. Lee to his Jefferson Davis…" "Who?" Tommy asked in a dumbfounded manner. "Just Terran historical figures, a general who outshone his president. All I know is that one day someone will kill me on his behalf, and it will be a cold day on Pyrovillia before I let him do that. The reason I asked you to join me is because it was obvious to me that you hate him?" Azmael muttered as he stalked the halls

"Why on earth would I hate Morbius?" Tommy said bashfully, placing his hand on his chest, his eyes blinked in rapid succession to one another, his tell when it came to his feeble attempts at deception. "Because boy, he represents everything you don't. You represent free thinking, he represents oppression and singular neuroses among his populace. I couldn't believe you were even there with those opportunists and lickspittles. Someone like you should be a Shobogan."

Tommy chuckled "Ironically enough I am, Sir." Azmael rolled his eyes and stalked over to a bottle of Shobogan ale, then proceeded to pour himself and Tommy a glass. They both saluted one another and Tommy proceeded to neck the ale. "You've clearly drank more of this than I have my boy. Thirteen did you say you were?" Tommy laughed and he and Azmael continued drinking for another hour. Eventually, Azmael had to laugh at the boy's inebriation "Like Cassio, thou hast poor brains for drinking?" "I don't care whether that one's Terran or fucking Kaled, Sir, why do you, or did you, follow Morbius?"

Azmael placed his glass on the table, his hand on his knee, looked up at the ceiling and said: "He and I, we learned so much when we were younger. He was my friend, my best friend. We had been companions since our infancy, even though we were from different Houses. And we stayed friends. I started to notice his ambition when we were fifteen. He started to act as if power would be his, or that anyone who disagreed with him was dirt to be crushed. As his friend, I grew to respect his passion and allowed him to nurture this fantasy. Hell, I even supported his rise to power, I thought he would make a fine President. Then came the day that he made me form a youth league here, then the atrocities… He always listened to me when we were younger, he's too far gone now though. I could've stopped him, could've persuaded him that there is more to life than killing and fighting for your beliefs. There is also a time when the needs of others matters more."

This statement unnerved Tommy beyond belief and Azmael didn't even comprehend this. Chuckie was just like Morbius was as a child, only more rebellious and anti-establishment. Tommy knew Chuckie was a militant when it came to recruiting and fighting for those who wanted a revolution. Most violent activities Tommy had a hint they were being perpetrated by him. Or at least someone called Koschei, but Tommy knew that was just a pseudonym. Chuckie had charisma, well passion more so, Tommy was the charismatic one. Chuckie had always been his rock when they were younger, but since they had drifted, Tommy was afraid for his friend. Chuckie had done more and more reckless things, ever since Torvic. Tommy told no one about it since the Hermit and he knew that Kimi knew, but he refused to speak of it with her. He wanted to tell Azmael about Chuckie, but knew not to. Chuckie always prevailed in the end, even during these dark times. "Sir, if I could please be excused, I've got to get back to the feast." "Of course, Tommy and please have this book? It's called The Communist Manifesto. I have a couple of other books here you and your rebel friends may like…What is to be Done?, Watchmen, the King and I, Oliver Twist. Oh, don't read Atlas Shrugged unless you want to see what it would be like if you killed every politician along with Morbius, what a load of tripe." Tommy took the books with him and brought them downstairs, they all appeared to be written by Terran authors. He showed them to Kimi, but she couldn't tell, except for the last on what they were. Oliver Twist was a famous musical on Earth. Tommy recognised the author of Oliver Twist. Chaz had given him Great Expectations and A Christmas Carol before.

Upon returning to the feast, he saw his remaining courses had been eaten by Phil. His three friends walked home with him that evening. Kimi had the keys to the café, so he was kind of dependent on her having left his sonic at home. Phil seemed very talkative wondering what interesting creatures he'd get to experiment on in Biology. Lil wondered about History and Ballistics. Kimi wondered about Literature in all languages, to see if she could learn more about the derring-do of heroes. Tommy didn't care about any of these subjects, only adventure upon leaving the school for galaxies anew. They said goodnight to Phil and Lil and headed for the café. Upon entering, Kimi poured them some coffee. "What am I getting coffee for?" Tommy slurred out at Kimi in an angry tone. "Because, you're clearly pissed. We weren't even allowed drink much Shobogan ale at that feast, and you were gone with Angelica for most of it." Kimi sat down across from Tommy at a table near the counter.

"Maybe, I've had a few. But still, you really shouldn't be getting wise to me like this. People will begin to think there's something going on between us."

"Well, there isn't. We live together at the moment. We're good friends and we go to school together. Nothing more."

"Yeah, nothing more than your undying love for me. We've been like this since we were babies. You and me. We always wanted to go out and explore. Now you're afraid of what comes next. Are you afraid they'll find out what you are? I would die before I let them take you or your mother or my mother from us, you know that. You've got nothing to fear."

Kimi blushed. Tommy was quite passionate at the moment and she felt kind of uncomfortable. She then chuckled as soon as Tommy finished speaking, "Oh, you and your falsetto chauvinism. Tommy, I don't want to live on a planet like this. I know we could leave, but we're too young. If I'm leaving, I want it to be when we've saved this world from the likes of Morbius. And when we go, it'll be together. That's when it becomes more."

Kimi walked upstairs as Tommy sat staring into the coffee cup with only himself for company. He found the keys and used them to enter the Type 40 he called home now. "Hello, girl. Guess what? Kimi's coming with us someday." The Tardis purred with delight, her love of the Finsters had been strong, particularly Chaz and Kimi, who had an affinity for her. Tommy slept in his hammock that night and dreamt of Chuckie crushing the skull of Morbius under his boot heel. Only the skull suddenly changed, into Gallifrey itself. Then a different planet, of blue and green, one which caused more upset for Tommy…


	10. Empires and Egotists

**Eragon, 2020**

Brother and sister both knew the score, this planet was their recruiting ground when they were finished capturing it. This market world of Eragon in Mutter's Spiral was populated by green, long necked fish people who seemed to sustain themselves via the diluted hydrogen in the oxygen for some strange reason. They were merely the proletariat that this planet had to offer, this world was a colony of the vast empire of Draconia. A civilisation not unlike feudal Japan, with a God Emperor and caste system. The twins intended to strike here in order to remind the civilisations that loved _him_ how they would suffer. Their target was the Earth however, so the Time Twins wouldn't play their hand beyond Mutter's Spiral. When they had the Doctor then they would follow their grand plan. Once they captured him, destroying the Earth would most likely be their next objective. Nothing personal against humanity but Reptar worshippers such as the twins believe in the supremacy of the dinosaurs above Homo sapiens on that planet. Plus, it was the Doctor's most beloved world. And the Doctor was cause and effect for the whole catastrophe in the first place.

Having exited her Tardis an hour ago, Mortimus and the Rani had donned black riding cloaks and hired a horse. Mortimus had just recently regenerated to accommodate his new lifespan, he now had a full brown head of hair with stubble and looked like he did in his late teens on Gallifrey during his first incarnation. The Monk was still a pseudonym he loathed, so Mortimus it was then. The Rani wanted to keep her form as young and fit as possible, not wanting to put another regeneration to chance. She knew some Time Lords who had regenerations traumatic enough that they became elderly instantly. The Doctor's latest body was Exhibit A in that case. She had loved him once, but so had everyone. Now she knew him for what that worm, Davros had dubbed him at the Battle of the Crucible, "the Destroyer of Worlds." That epithet applied now because of the fate of his own home world, no greater crime was there for a citizen of the universe to commit than the destruction of your own people and planet. Their vengeance would be sweet, she just knew it. She would remove both of the Doctor's hearts personally when they had finished ravaging the universe for a New Gallifrey and he lay at their side begging for mercy, or perhaps death. She preferred the latter.

The Draconians honoured the Doctor for the service he had done them recently. A plague had ravaged their land and the Doctor came to save them in his third incarnation. He was an honoured nobleman of that planet and the colonists of this world would die with his name on their lips. Their contacts had encouraged an uprising from the lower native castes against their Draconian overlords. To send them a message of Time Lord supremacy, even in death. Time Lord neutrality had brought them extinction at the hands of first, the Daleks, and now the Doctor. The Doctor had tried to save them so long ago but on both occasions he betrayed his own heritage and destroyed his own world. Admittedly the first time he broke several Laws of Time by crossing his own timeline and saving Gallifrey from the Moment. But that left the Moment on Gallifrey where Mortimus had found it during the final battle between the Doctor and the High Council, which ended in Gallifrey's destruction, this time for good. Gallifrey Falls No More. That had been a ruse set up by those creatures ruling Gallifrey in the other universe that the Doctor destroyed his home world for after Gallifrey defeated them…

Mortimus and the Rani were invited into the chamber of the Governor from Draconia, who bid them welcome immediately. "Humble rulers of the universe, your presence humbles a mere mortal such as myself. We of Draconia have respect for your people beyond belief." Mortimus had sold them a lie via psychic paper that they were Eternals, a sect of whom were gods to the Draconians. Mortimus and the Rani pulled down their hoods and accepted the bows of all Draconians standing in this opulent room. The Governor had been sitting on a chair carved out of the bones of some of the Eragonese leaders, twenty years beforehand. The Rani knew by him that he was a ruthless warrior, he had that look of a malicious cunt about him. The poor Eragonese, how they must suffer under this putrid foreign toady, she took pity on some species, unless they defied her. The Lakertyans she made hostages of and the Tetraps she made her own personal army. She would never be this cruel to as productive a race as the Eragonese.

"Would your eternities care for a drink? Boy, bring the refreshments," the Governor ordered as a stout Eragonese youth waddled into the room and brought Mortimus and the Rani a tray laden with refreshments. Mortimus took nearly everything on the platter, the Rani merely took a goblet of wine, as they both sat down to speak to the Governor. "So, down to business. Why are you here? Before though, I must remind you that Eragon is a most godly colony, we worship our emperor and our gods above all others, and we have the natives under our thumb. We have many warships and soon our empire will expand as far as the Sol system. The only populated planet in that system currently has special protection. Said planet is defended by a Time Lord it seems. We intend to capture it in the name of the Emperor." The Rani would have been all for the Governor and his armies expanding into the Sol system and capturing Earth, but she didn't want a culture which venerated the Doctor, like the Draconians did, getting too powerful either. The Rani wanted to strike at them because in the Doctor's past, which would have been recent events to these Draconians, he had saved their people from a plague and had been made a nobleman of Draconia, answering to the Emperor himself. They worshipped him, the Rani would much prefer an imperial government he had defied to be on their side, but they seemed to be short in number since he had nearly always succeeded in destroying them utterly.

Mortimus was the first to speak, "And why pray tell would you be contesting a Time Lord? They are a powerful species with much longer lifespans than, um "Ephemerals" of your class." The Governor smirked in a most arrogant fashion. The Rani recognised that smirk to one the Doctor would give, depending on the regeneration, seems he must have rubbed off on their civilisation a little more than even she expected. "If we capture it and smite the Time Lord in the process, we will be the most feared people in the cosmos. I will have killed a planet's champion. As a pureblood Draconian, I have always hated those swine from Gallifrey with their two hearts! I hope to garland myself with the hearts of Earth's Champion for when I go into battle the next time!" The Rani was enraged at the dragon's blatant racism, but her brother calmed her instantaneously, grabbing her hand and squeezing it ever so tightly. She had always been the passionate one and he the obscure one. For a renegade, he had plenty of common sense and self-control which his sister lacked. She wondered how they had ever grown apart.

"What would you say if I told you that the planet of Gallifrey has fallen to the Daleks, but subsequently been destroyed to save existence?" she said through gritted teeth, as the Governor looked at her astonished. "Well, I would be both concerned and delighted, if the Daleks could capture Gallifrey, then nowhere is safe from those monsters," the Governor said shaking. "What If I told you there were Daleks coming here right now? What would you do, Governor?" Mortimus chided in with a sinister look on his face. Brother and sister's eyes met and a malicious leer could be clearly seen in either eye.

"What? This cannot be! We would be destroyed! No! But wait, our gods have come to tell us this. You have come to save us, is that it? Please, I beg of you. Those monsters won't spare a soul, not even a pure-blood Draconian like myself. To them, I'm just like those monsters," he gesticulated at the serving boy. Mortimus and the Rani laughed "If you give us Eragon, Ephemeral, we may consider it. And have your soldiers swear allegiance to us before your Emperor." Mortimus looked concerned, his sister had just taken the largest gamble in all of time and space. The possibility of a Draconian betraying their emperor. There was a 99.9999999999999% chance he would deny her and she still demanded it of him. Mortimus only hoped that this Governor was as slimy as he seemed. The Governor looked up at the Rani with beaming eyes. He smiled and said "Are you not above the Emperor regardless in their eyes? Besides, who says we're not in for a regime change? If I do swear loyalty to you, promise me one thing."

"Name it," the Rani said trying to hide a smile, knowing full well the Eternals were not one for emotion, unless it involved scheming. "The Draconian Empire. I will be your loyal Emperor, o gods of my ancestors. All those who defy you and I will be crushed under our jackboots. Only proclaim me the true Emperor and I will give you the armies of the universe. What shall it be then? Will you accept me?" Mortimus and the Rani nodded hurriedly. The Governor whooped for joy in the air and released the orders to his soldiers. They all seemed to begin celebrating, as he promised them riches should they betray the Empire and side with their "gods". This gave enough time for the Eragonese dissidents to begin doing their good work.

As the Governor whooped and danced, he did not see the Rani grab his throat. She had a sword dating from the planet Skaro's earliest race, the Dals, pointed at his throat. "Insult my race, will you, dragon? See if you can take my hearts from me, if you're such a great warrior?" "What? Oh, I see what you are now! Gods of my ancestors, indeed. Deceitful Gallifreyan scum!" the dragon said as he released himself from her clutches. He found a sword and soon he and the Rani were locked in a battle to the death. Steel clashed with steel as the fight raged on. Neither Mortimus, the serving boy nor any of the Governor's familiars intervened on either's behalf. The Governor swung with great force his weapon down upon the Rani as she regained ground, having been tripped by him. Sparks flew out as blade met blade. The Rani merely brushed it off and made a few killing motions in the direction of his chest, they pierced the skin and caused him to bleed, but the dragon was not done yet. Swinging his sword with the grace of a water dancer, he sliced the back of her knee open. The Rani did not scream instead she tripped him and as he began to regain himself she jammed her sword right through his jugular and out through his chest. He bled to death within five minutes in complete agony. The Draconians were quickly rounded up and forced to bend the knee to their new rulers. Finding a symbol she knew all too well, Lil painted it on the flag of Eragon in the blood of any Draconians who resisted their coup. The flag of the New Time Lord Empire, (she had already orchestrated coups on other colonies, since the Governor administered all of that system's colonies) was raised here and across the entire system. The flag had a motif bearing the symbol of strength, as well as those traditional ones of male and female before the ancient Gallifreyan symbol known as the Seal of Rassilon. The blood motif she painted instead was merely the shape of her Dal blade, she called it Forger of Time.

Mortimus looked on with pride at his sister, glorified by her latest conquest for the New Time Lord Empire. Soon, they would need more of their own people. Intelligence had told Mortimus they were hiding out in a place where no Time Lord dared to tread. A place which the Doctor had devastated using Time Lord science in a past life. A place home to some things which even the Time Lords truly feared from beyond the grave. The Skaro system…

**Gallifrey**

The Prydonian Academy was just like any other school. It was elitist, it did have quite intelligent children but so did most second level education facilities in Gallifrey. Either you were intelligent or you lived in the dregs of the Capitol, like Phil and Lil's parents. Phil and Lil loved their parents but everyone knew that they wanted better for their children. In their first year, the twins were intimidated to say the least. Even around their friends they held themselves close, Tommy, Chuckie and Kimi just didn't have the same bond the siblings had. Lil had become more and more impressed with the new Tommy since their initiation. He seemed to have cleaned up his act, apart from drinking with his cousin behind their back during the feast. Eventually, they reconnected with him first, because Tommy was like that. Amicable, adventurous and friendly, also he was still fun, even when he was sober. Chuckie was darker but they eventually saw the same boy who had befriended them in their infancy so long ago. Kimi was even more intimidated than them due to personal reasons at the Academy, so the reformation of a bond didn't take as long as you'd think. She was not of their species but she was as good as family to the twins. Lil could tell she was distant initially simply because she and Tommy were secretly together. Lil had the gift of the Pythia from her mother, it was a unique gift from her distant ancestor, whom many believed to be either a Carrionite or a still living Sister of Karn, of seeing things through the eyes of others, and she saw Tommy and Kimi at one point alone in his Tardis. Was she jealous? No, she knew affection for any man as deep as their kind of love would ruin her destiny, just as she was sure it would ruin both of theirs. Chuckie was the only one of her friends who thought like her, he rejected love as well for self-gain, though he seemed to be more of a loner than Lil, considering she was always with Phil. All Lil needed was her platonic relationship with Phil and her parents, her friendships with the others and then for physical needs she'd take attractive idiots like Maekar and Rojan to bed any day, as would her brother.

Phil on the other hand did have a love. He had been keeping Extermopuss since his birthday and was raising his pet mutant in the proper environments. He managed to de-condition the hatred within it and make it loyal to him without question. Extermopuss was the greatest pet a boy could have, if you were into nuclear mutants like Phil was. The creature also went hunting in the outlands while Phil was in school and bring interesting game home for supper. It appeared to be growing and Phil had to let it out to feed more often than before. He wanted it to grow back into a fully-fledged Kaled one day, he knew it might take centuries but it was worth a shot. Phil and his sister never truly grew apart, only saw less of each other in the corridors. As siblings they would remain fervently loyal to one another, but happiness mattered more.

To illustrate what life was truly like for all of the Rugrats attending the Prydonian Academy, we would need to take a look at an average school day. The inner workings of this day were largely seen by Tommy so he shall be our narrator for today.

Since I am a human fan boy writing this I have no idea how the Gallifreyan calendar works or what year it would be, so I'll just say it was four years to the day since they loved Shrek. Tommy came into school early that day rubbing shit out of his hair from the older years being nerf herders in general. He went to his locker and took out his books, he had Project Day for Jiggery-Pokery later and Hullabaloo at the end of the day, the first one was his best subject and he was up for an award in it. Jiggery-Pokery mainly because of his talents with a sonic screwdriver. Creative classes also worked well thanks to his talents with a camera and his vibrant imagination. He and Phil always seemed to do well in Cookery. He and Chuckie always performed well in Science after school some days. He and Lil did well at training and self-defence. He and Kimi were always good at thinking and strategizing, creating stories and films, many things. He and his friends were happy and had many a thing in common, not just aptitude. Azmael had been giving Tommy plenty of lessons after school some days in his subjects he was failing like Maths. He always called him "Theta Sigma" because he caught him falling asleep during a Maths grind and asked him something regarding those two letters in algebra. Tommy had no clue, therefore he has been known as Theta Sigma ever since. During his visits home to Lungbarrow for the holidays, things could not have improved more. His Grandpa Lou and Grandma Lulu's returns had heralded Quences beginning to leave him alone, as even he was afraid of his legendary nephew, Louis Pickles. Lou had been a disgrace to the House in his youth, so he left Gallifrey and became a mercenary. Quences bet that he would never return or that if he did it would be as a coward. He returned and married Tommy's grandmother, Trixie. First, however he made clear his medals for bravery from a hundred different armies to his uncle. Quences had to acknowledge his nephew's superiority. The condition of the bet enabled Lou's family to become the heirs of Quences. Also, Quences feared Lou having heard tale of him from aliens he consorted with in his shady dealings in the Capitol. Tommy's father, Stu, had returned to inventing more hare brained machines, like the invisible stethoscope and the Magic Mike. Didi, his mother, had managed to smuggle her parents to Gallifrey. Mr and Mrs Gate were actually called Boris and Minka Kropotkin, Gate was a pseudonym assumed when they escaped Russian pogroms in the 19th century. Living in England at the time, Gate had been a more acceptable surname than Kropotkin. Lou used his connections to ensure that his daughter-in-law's parents were allowed to live at House Lungbarrow. Dill on the other hand was still Dill, only more studious and serious. He seemed more passionate and hardworking than Tommy had been at his age, when it came to one day joining the Academy.

Tommy proceeded down the hallway to the garden area. The suns had not yet fully risen on Gallifrey but he still felt awake, despite having had no sleep the night before. He fiddled with the sonic screwdriver a little before blasting a light beam from it nearly burning his face off. "Going to admit to yourself that maybe you can have too much of a good thing, anytime soon, T?" The voice was unmistakably Kimi's, Tommy would know it from anywhere. She walked over and sat beside him. "You think you can just sneak out of my home every morning without me noticing. I thought you were getting into fights? Or doing some of those human drug things? Or drinking ale again? Or worse?"

"What could be worse?" Tommy asked her, perplexed. "You could have been with…." She cut herself short, blushing, and then proceeding to change the subject. "Big Creative test, today." Tommy ignored her statement and just kept looking at her with a cheeky smile, knowing what she meant with that last statement. He turned away and continued to fiddle with his screwdriver. "You know, Kimi? We both think school is boring. Why don't you ever talk to me about what's really on your mind? You know, like you're always about to do every time we start a conversation alone…"

"I'm worried for my brother, if you must know," Kimi said with a defiant look on her face. Tommy was the one who blushed this time. Kimi had not meant a girl when she cut herself short, she had meant Chuckie and his gang of revolutionaries. She clearly didn't want Tommy in that gang and they both knew why. Chuckie had been arranging murders with that gang day in and day out since school started. Yes, there wasn't someone gunned down every night, but each kill was significant if not frequent, and there had been one last night. The Deputy Imperator, Tselios Mirada of House Dvora had been found upside down and dismembered in the early hours of the morning. Nobody knew why or how but everyone suspected the Others, on good grounds. The Capitol was no place to live anymore, even as teenage students, the politics of the regime was tearing their friendships apart. Chuckie's heavy handedness was destroying everything the rest of them believe in, a pacifist approach until the time was right to strike. Morbius wasn't even on the planet, he was fighting the Sycorax with War Tardises out in the Gamma Quadrant. Chuckie and the Others were determined to take out the government while he was off world, but Tommy grew more and more uncomfortable with that every passing day. That was because with every new assassination or resignation, Tommy's uncle, Drew Pickles would rise up in the ranks. Drew had married above his station to the wealthy Charlotte of House Dvora, Morbius' sister. Their marriage had only produced one child, Angelica, Tommy's older first cousin by two years. She was a devious little madam with cunning and guile, but yet she did love Tommy. He had not attended any further meetings of those ultra-fascists she called friends and colleagues after school since his initiation. Their tutor, Azmael, still provided him with tuition though. Regardless, with Mirada dead, now Drew was ripe for the post of Deputy Imperator. Tommy didn't want his uncle's death on his conscience, but he knew it may have to come to that. The marriage bond implied that Drew would be forever loyal to Morbius, he had benefited from the regime more than anyone.

"Kimi, I'm really sorry. I care so much about him. I'd let him go on, because a part of me thinks his heart is in the right place. But he's going to kill my uncle one of these days."

Kimi looked aghast at Tommy "You mean Drew? But Tommy, we promised each other we wouldn't shed the blood of our fellow family members." "Yeah, well Chuckie will get that vetoed somehow. He always convinces someone or other that we're not extreme enough. He's gotten us and anyone else we know…Shush….Someone's coming. If they see us conspiring in the garden with these…" Tommy held up a suspicious looking pamphlet he had been reading in his spare time. "What do we do?" Kimi asked frantically. Without warning, Tommy grabbed Kimi and began to kiss her quite passionately. Whilst they did so, Tommy peeked out of the corner of his eye and saw only a drunken Azmael skulking about the corridors. Once he was gone he released Kimi.

"Well, that was one way…of hiding the pamphlets. Hang on! These are Euro Reptar Land pamphlets! You dick!" she smacked Tommy right across the face and stalked off. Tommy nursed his cheek continuing his cheeky grin all the while, and then proceeded to find his old sonic and begin fiddling with locks around the school. He thought of another fact he forgot about last night. Twelve men who had campaigned for Morbius had been stolen from their beds in the dead of night, a body part left behind. He could not fathom why the elusive Koschei would strike so low all of a sudden, having aimed high in the past.

Upon completing his early morning thievery, Tommy headed for his locker as residents filed out of their dormitories. Tommy opened the door to his locker, then one of his more middle class friends who lived on campus gave him a bear hug from behind "Oh, T! Where you been? I usually catch you stealing here in the mornings?" Suzie Carmichael was the wisest of Tommy's friends by far, she knew all his secrets and everyone else, but she would never tell, because she was easily the nicest person he had ever had the fortune to know. Talented, smart and funny. She was the best friend anybody could have. But she did have the habit of being too moral. A trait she would teach Tommy and which would make the Doctor the greatest man in the universe. He owed Suzie a lot.

"Managed to avoid you this morning, 'Suz! Tell me, how's the closest thing I have to a big sister doing?" "Ah, not much is happening, T. Say, you going to Grinds after school?" she asked winking. "Oh shit, I forgot that was today. No wait, it's perfect, I can get Chuckie to tag along. Did you do your assignment for Grinds?" he asked Suzie. "Yeah, got everything done? How about you, kid? New screwdriver in the works?" "Always, got one on the go, sure. I'll see you then." Tommy and Suzie headed off to their respective classes. Jiggery-Pokery, this was the one class he had without any of his friends, and it was the one he seemed to excel at. His teacher had always asked for one of his sonic devices where he was done. That teacher was the same reason Tommy was robbing from the school. Doctor Honeydew had gone and patented sonic tech, robbing Tommy's inventions. So Tommy repaid him by constantly robbing him of all his needs. He was nearly always assisted by his erstwhile assistant, Beaker, a tall, weird creation of his whom Tommy thought must have been a watcher for a future regeneration of his or something. He couldn't wait to see Honeydew regenerate into that.

Eventually, Tommy made it, his sonic bat, or bat sonar. Another thing he would sell in the future for a profit. To a Terran billionaire from America looking to avenge his parents. After his project was completed, Tommy was dismissed and sent to Art, there he tried his best to find something to make. Today was origami day and in Art he always sat next to Kimi. She took it seriously while he was no good at all. Inventing was the only practical thing he had any aptitude for. He decided to make a flower, a rose, like the Earth ones the Hermit had shown him all those years ago. He wondered how he was doing. The man was famous when he was younger and his death would have been news to the Capitol, so Tommy felt safe having not heard anything about a lonely old man in the mountains who knew Rassilon dying. The teacher complimented his work, saying it looked surprisingly lifelike. Tommy had merely thought of the day the Hermit had shown him the dead flower growing once more, that was all he needed for a muse.

Next, came Hullabaloo. This was the class where he, Phil and Lil played the drums and caused general mayhem. It was basically as if they had never left the play pen. That class had little to do with anything except Lil was inspired to make a four note beat on her drum, which when Chuckie walked into the class with a message for the teacher, caused him to have a fit. His friends had no clue why, but Lil still liked it. How did it go again? Duh duh duh duh. Duh duh duh duh. Four beats. Simple, yet somehow so awesome. Tommy couldn't seem to understand why Chuckie didn't appreciate it.

Finally, the five friends congregated in the study room where waiting for them was their tutor, Borusa. The after school study group began as normal, with Maths and several other subjects being discussed. Everything was as it should be. Engineers like Drax sat in the back taking Engineering notes. Technicians like Vansell took notes on technology, as per usual. Tommy merely doodled all over his page, whilst Chuckie beside him mapped out strategies.

Then after quiet descended upon the room, Borusa gave a signal to Suzie, the blinds were snapped shut and the class pulled out a unique object from each of their bags. The Deca, a group of young, willing and able students, ready to fight against Morbius had assembled. Tommy withdrew his sonic prototype he had been working on earlier from his bag. Phil and Lil withdrew communicators and a unique blade was also withdrawn by Lil. "Gee, Lillian. Where'd you get that from?" "Another artefact from Skaro, Phillip. It can negate regeneration when plunged into the right organs. The Dals used it to sacrifice other species in the name of their gods. They also had an emperor who famously lost his life to rebels with this very blade. The Shard of Davros." The blade had been named after a Dal hero, and the progenitor of their cousin race, the Kaleds, who would eventually exterminate the race. Davros is a name in the ancient language of the Quatch, the alien race who designed life on Skaro, meaning "Creator." Another Davros would have similar fame to this Dal ancestor of his.

Kimi and the others had merely finished learning new training techniques from their respective sensei. Chuckie however brought in a field report of Other activity, revolutionary prose from across the universe (for Tommy primarily) and the last object was one which sent chills down the spines of everyone in the room, for a reason none of them could quite comprehend. A skull with a jade crystal embedded within it. Judging by the condition of the skull, Tommy knew Chuckie or someone else must have put that in there, the skull had definitely been excavated though. Only Borusa seemed to know what it was. He gave the sternest look out of all in the classroom. "Finster, when the session is over, we need to talk." "I know what you will say, sir. But the crystal grants me control over them." Borusa still looked quite stern, "Where did you find that, Charles?"

Chuckie looked him dead in the eye and said "my dreams pointed me to the crater atop Mount Cadon. Within was this. Alone, apart from the ash and magma. I've had it for well on three weeks now. I wanted you to see it, sir. From what they say, they can stop him. The creatures…they can stop our enemies in their tracks." Borusa looked more worried than ever. Tommy clutched his friend's hand tightly as if to say, now is not the time. Instead, Chuckie left the room with skull in hand almost immediately. Borusa ordered everyone out of the class to go for physical training, except for Tommy, Phil, Lil, Kimi and Suzie. "That foolish boy. You must all know that so much will be in grave danger if he uses that skull. No, of course you wouldn't. It's just a skull to you children. All I want you to understand is that he must never use it. Tommy, Kimi, I leave this up to you. That boy is beyond me. The rest of you need to go to the gym for training."

Tommy told Kimi to go after Chuckie ahead of him. He needed to speak with their tutor. She complied and exited hastily. Tommy stood tall before Borusa with stern eyes when they were alone. He did this only because Borusa's back was turned. "He's just aggressive at the moment…its hormones, he's growing up. He only wants to help." Borusa turned round and looked Tommy dead in the eye, which caused Tommy to begin to slouch and avert the man's gaze. "I think the leader of the notorious Other Gang has more motives than mere hormones. What could possible make him want to rid us of Morbius in such a way? You were wise to let him join our cause as an ally, now we know what idiotic extremist plans he's concocting. You have to dissuade him from this course of action or I will have to alert the CIA." Tommy looked aghast at his tutor, why on Earth would the CIA be concerned with a meagre skull, no matter how discomforting it seemed. "The Celestial Intervention Agency? But sir, it's only a skull. Yes, there may be magic in it, but what harm is one skull truly capable of?" "Destroying all life on this planet would be one among many things it could do."

Tommy was still puzzled "Sir, what is it?" Borusa merely bowed his head, reached into the drawers of his desk and took a book out called the History of the Sol System by Oolon Coluphid. "Read that, and you will know. Now go, Pickles. I'm sure, Azmael is waiting for you. Don't think I don't know…Phillip can take your place training the students today. For now, you must meet with this Morbius loyalist you clearly have an inappropriate relationship with." Tommy suddenly got defensive "Sir, he has never…" Borusa cut him short "I know he hasn't, this is Gallifrey not the Vatican. I mean that it's inappropriate to be drinking and cajoling with the enemy, let alone a teacher so many centuries your senior." "He's my friend, sir. Only you are my mentor. Those are two entirely different relationships, wouldn't you say? And even if he supports Morbius, he's not my enemy. And it's easy for you to call him that isn't it? Coming from the man who presided over Morbius' last wedding on behalf of your father." Borusa blushed and said "That will be all, Pickles. Tell me what your "good friend" knows next week, please."

Tommy skulked off in anger. He had always hated the way they treated him like a Time Tot in this school. Azmael was the only one he ever had any respect for then, because Azmael never lied to him or deceived him, even if they were political foes, he understood and cared for Azmael. Arriving at his friend's office, the Doctor noticed Rufus leaving having had an argument with their mentor. "But I have a lead on those Others. I think we should tell the CIA, sir. I think there may be off world forces working against the Imperator. All we need do is act now and purge…"

Azmael quickly interrupted him upon seeing Tommy walk in, "That is quite enough, Rufus, now please be gone from this place. And no more talk of action, you are still my student and your welfare is my concern. I will not have you commit purges, for the Imperator's benefit or anyone else's. And besides how can I trust you to wisely use such responsibility? You and your friends could easily just bully anyone they please for the Imperator. As much as I am his supporter, the Imperator has no authority within these walls. The leaders of the Prydonian Chapter and your teachers, which include yours truly, on the other hand do. Now thankfully leave my study and go back to your dormitory. I will hear no more talk of purges." Rufus stormed out of the room, shoving Tommy into the door quite roughly. Azmael shouted after the bully "And study for your Chemistry exam, you little cock, or I'll find a new Chairman for the Loyalist Committee."

Tommy sat across from his friend who poured him a glass of mead "It's a bit odd for you to be here, Tommy. I hope you have better news than that violent oaf had." "Do you know of any alien species that invade planets…by being summoned with a skull?" Azmael leapt out of his chair whilst releasing a gasp and clutching his chest. "Tommy, how on Earth could you possible know of THEM at your age?" "What are they?" Tommy implored his mentor. Azmael began to cry "The monsters of my childhood. My father…he stopped them…but there have been reports of them ravaging worlds and then systems. We've had to engineer premature supernovas just to prevent them from spreading to other worlds." Tommy was getting impatient now, and Azmael noticed this. "They are called the Fendahl, Tommy. Thirteen creatures born to be the ultimate weapons of mass destruction and wipe out races…species…or in some cases where fate sided with their victims, a handful of people. But that would be a one in quadrillion occurrence. My father was just a time traveller, a very early one. He was born in Rassilon's time. In the system of Sol in the galaxy of Mutter's Spiral, where there were once eleven planets. The planet of Mondas eventually drifted away from its twin, Earth, home world of the Terrans. The fifth planet from Sol itself was the home of the Fendahl. The original inhabitants of that planet must have retro-engineered some…I want to say people, but that would be inconceivable…into the Fendahl. That skull is their core. They spread the core across time and space to various different planets, as soon as we learned of their plans. They threatened all life in the universe. So my father and an expedition trapped Planet 5 in a time loop for all eternity. That hasn't stopped them manifesting from time to time, however. Thankfully, we've always prevented them from causing too much destruction. But if they were to manifest here then, they'd have us right where they want us. And then no species will be able to stop them once they've finished with us."

Tommy had always loved stories, even ones of sheer terror such as this and had been listening with rapt attention the whole way through. "So, the presence of the Fendahl Core on Gallifrey is something to be concerned about." Azmael grabbed Tommy and said "I don't care how or why, Tommy, all I want you to do is listen. Whoever has access to it must die. The Fendahl have been manipulating harbingers on these planets ever since their imprisonment. Bloodlines were formed so that the descendants would one day come to allow the Fendahl to become manifest. Tommy, you would be Gallifrey's greatest unsung hero, if you do this one thing." Azmael pulled out a crude weapon, which Tommy did not recognise. "On Earth, they call this a handgun. This one in particular is called the Colt. It was an artefact brought by my grandfather to the Pythia witch covens of old who once ruled our planet. She enchanted it with the ability to permanently kill any and all which its bullets collide with. I intend to bring it back to Earth someday. It would be a great help against some heroes I have come to know from there against extra-dimensional beings." Tommy accepted the weapon gladly, bowed before his friend and left without delay.

He suddenly began to process what the one elder he trusted more than Borusa had just told him. "To save the universe, I have to kill Chuckie," he muttered under his breath for about half an hour to himself. He pocketed the Colt and headed back to the café. There Chaz was busy with customers. "Tommy, where have you been? Chuckie went out, Kimi followed him. I presume you might want to join them?" Tommy rushed out after them, out into the fields of Gallifrey, beyond the House of Lungbarrow, beyond Mount Perdition. He came to the coast near the Capitol before he saw them. "Chuckie, please that skull is dangerous. Put it away." Tommy saw Kimi shouting at her brother a small distance away.

"Why do you trust Borusa absolutely? Grownups aren't always right you know. This skull could very well be our salvation from…that vile man sitting there with the High Council. All of them are terrified of him. Well, I'm not. I was going to be the one to kill him, you know. I was going to be the last one to drive a knife into both of his hearts. But no, I needed to destroy his following first, bit by bit until he has no friends left and I have many. Well, there's been a change of plan. That Rufus guy is getting wise to my plans. The Others will be finished unless I release my friends here. A voice told me in my dreams that if I used them, I would save Gallifrey. I have to do this, Kimi. For our world. For our people. For you. And most of all for Phil and Lil. Their dad is afraid of his own shadow, day in and day out and they can never tell why. I know why, it's because of his civil servant job as a clerk for the High Council. He sees things we're not meant to see, and they horrify him." Kimi began to cry "There has to be another way." "I'm sorry, Kimi, there isn't. Now, they tell me that you have to be the Core. I'm sorry sis, but it's for Gallifrey. I'll tell Mom and Dad and everyone else you died a hero." Tommy suddenly saw twelve bound and gagged figures through the darkness around Chuckie and Kimi as Chuckie withdrew a knife.

Tommy brandished and cocked his gun, aiming it directly at Chuckie. "Put your sister down, Finster, or this is gonna get messy." Chuckie smiled confidently at his friend, whom he knew to be very green at the process of murder, righteous or otherwise. Or so he thought. "Tommy, don't tell me you're a sheep too. Let me do this. Kimi needs to do it, she was here at the wrong time and I need a female so that they can become manifest. I'll regret it, I know. But it's for them. I have to keep telling myself that."

"Chuckie, read this before you do anything of the sort." Tommy reached down with one hand into his school bag and pulled out the book Borusa had given him. He threw it to Chuckie who placated Kimi before reading it. "Turn to the section on Planet 5." A few minutes later, Chuckie slammed the book shut glared at him and then withdrew a staser gun. He proceeded to use all twelve bolts on his victims. Tommy was horrified as was Kimi, looking aghast at what their respective best friend and brother had just done.

"Chuckie, what have you become?" Tommy asked his friend in a bewildered fashion. "Someone who's willing to go to these lengths. The right lengths. You were right to stop me today, T, I'll give you that. But what about the next day? Or the day after that? Or the day after that? Or what about the day that Morbius imprisons and executes me? Or what about the day after that when you all graduate, enter society and abandon the revolution? What about any of those days, Tommy?" Tommy continued to look Chuckie dead in the eye as he made these statements. "I could kill you now and stop you from destroying our way of life. Everything we believe in or will come to believe in! You want to slaughter and butcher anyone just so you can unleash monsters to do your dirty work for you? You're just as bad as Morbius!"

"Well, maybe then I'm the person you should be listening to. The only practical thing in combat is to fight fire with fire. I admit I am being cruel, but desperate times call for desperate measures, Tommy. And, besides don't you remember that day by the river, when you were drowning…and I would not lend a hand…but then I saw the light. I knew what they had intended for me, and I saved you from that beast. Well, if I get a chance to save Gallifrey in a similar manner, then I'll do it without a second's thought. Unlike you Tommy, I'm not afraid to get my hands dirty. Just think about it, T? The rush you get from taking one life to save another? Isn't it the most just feeling there is? Well?"

Tommy suddenly saw images of blood and gore flash before his eyes as he dreamed of what Chuckie was saying. He seemed to be enjoying it. He suddenly remembered Torvic's smile…and the girl with the jade crystal in her forehead…oh, how they had danced. Then he gripped his head in pain. It felt like a chainsaw or a drill were entering his skull all of a sudden. But this side of himself was still slipping through. The boy who had killed Torvic McNulty was still there…whether he liked it or not. Of course, Tommy had repressed that side of himself, swapping memories with Chuckie, but he didn't know that now and wouldn't for a very long time. "Die, you pawn of the Jaded One!" he screamed as he pulled the trigger and watched as the bullet collided with Chuckie's chest and a burst of light emanated from it. Tommy collapsed at the sight of murdering his own best friend. He saw Kimi clutching her brother's body. And then it was all quiet, still and howling…


	11. He Who Is Without Death

**Birmingham, 2020**

She had escaped. His most prized possession in the entire span of creation had escaped and he was stuck here picking up the pieces. Nosferatu had been running for so long from them, the little urchins that lived in the light. The creatures that loved beauty, while he loved putrescence. Humans would have done to him what the Time Lords always wanted all that millennia ago, and for once he had the power to walk among them. For a species who loved to profess forgiveness, they had something against the common garden predator. What these apes didn't realise was that creatures like he were just as essential as them if not more so to the natural order. So suspicions of vampirism from even the most curious would be allayed by his presence in the sunlight, thanks to the bounteous gift of day walking he had gained from his prisoner's blood. But he had lost his prisoner, his creator, an Eternal of the Menti Celesti, a species which could influence the mind of not just mortal beings, but beings with a constant physical form. And human beings were so weak-willed and incurious he knew that they would find and kill him, even if he walked in the light. Death must have been at full power, now after all those years of resting. It had been a trap all along, they had been protecting her when they thought they had her captive. She had just been biding her time until the moment was ripe. He shouldn't have taken her blood so early in the evening, in his office, where he would have been vulnerable to a staking. He had gotten a craze from the blood and embarked on a rampage. She must have tainted it somehow, made them more vulnerable. His men were most likely slaughtered either by her or by the intruders who took his other prisoner, the Gallifreyan. He could care less about them for now, though he knew they would have to factor in to his plans for vengeance. Nosferatu still longed for his vengeance. She had killed them so long ago. His children, his wife, his town. Well, not to debate semantics, but he had. She tempted him beyond the depths of his good natured persona. She had promised him the Shape of Eternity, an artefact of great power. It had been a trap all along.

He journeyed across his universe for her bounty, and found it in the end, after several arduous years. Her servants who craved the nectar secreted from the Shape of Eternity guarded it on the barren rock he ended upon. They slaughtered him but he fought back and claimed the Shape, realising that these people had been her previous pawns. But, (gods, he couldn't remember his old name), was not going to kowtow to her after having thrown away his entire life to her as a blood sacrifice. Instead, he claimed it for himself, even if it had ruined him, made him one of them. He came to grow proud of his new race, the new family he raised. He travelled his universe surveying it for so long. He eventually realised it would be right to found a bloodline by siring progeny, a continuity to the civilisation he would forge. They ruled after him for eons, the entire universe was his plaything, not hers. Then they found the next universe. When a black hole consumed their home world and sent them into the point of collapse, they emerged in a place they later came to know as Sector 666, or the Sector of Forgotten Souls. Their nectar ran in the blood of some of the creatures here, all they required was nourishment, and so they claimed it. It wasn't long until they realised they were in the Palace of the Gods. Death originated in this universe, as did her family. But she led Rassilon and his armies from Gallifrey against them. Her Champion was going to forge an empire across the skies, but Nosferatu had the privilege of saying that his species had stopped Rassilon and his expansionism in their tracks. Gallifrey did not fall, but Rassilon thought twice before attacking another species.

Gallifrey fell to the next race they had damaged through their hypocritical interference, the Daleks. A race more devoted than even the Great Vampires had been to their cause. If only those creatures had been there when the last of his Imperial Bloodline had been purged. What a dance that would have been. The war had raged for centuries at that point. It began when Rassilon bombed the Imperial Palace in the Sector of Forgotten Souls, the place where Omega had created time travel, and the Great Vampires' base of operations in this universe. The next strike came at their military bases, one by one, across the galaxy, being hit by War Tardises, acting like kamikaze pilots. Nosferatu himself led the counter offensive on the Kasterborous Sector itself annihilating nearly all life on the neighbouring planets before capturing Gallifrey itself. Rassilon had not been there, but plenty of fresh blood filled hostages were left behind. For three centuries, the Capitol was held until the loyalist resistance of Rassilon sowed dissent among the hostages who overthrew them in the end. Nosferatu fled to the planet Earth, abandoning the Capitol after his men were slaughtered. Meanwhile, Rassilon all but killed the King of the Great Vampires, the last of the Imperial Bloodline, who escaped barely alive to E-Space. Nosferatu had lived in retirement on Earth, he had hopefully sired enough Time Lords to damage the society from within before doing so, but their efforts were all for nought due to the eventual destruction of the planet at the hands of its most blessed son, the one called the Doctor.

Now with Death's escape there was no hope for him or any of his species remaining. The human vampires he had sired certainly had no hope that was certain. These are the reasons why he gave himself over to Torchwood. His research had pointed him to an office building in Birmingham as the location of the reformed Torchwood Three. The new team consisted of two immortals fuelled by the energy of a time rift called the Blessing, Captain Jack Harkness and former CIA agent, Rex Matheson (he could smell a lack of nutritious blood from them), former policewoman Gwen Cooper, who was now missing her left eye, an old man imbued with long life through alien intervention by the name of Wilfred Mott, a kindly fat bloke who made the tea and seemed to shout a lot called Craig Owens. As soon as he saw their profiles, he realised that mankind lacked hope altogether should it ever come down to this motley crew. However, he had heard great praise of their clients, Mickey Smith and Martha Jones, who also worked freelance for UNIT when and if they could. Upon surrendering himself to Torchwood, he was dragged into a little den the size of an opium den he had once lived in in Kent by Gwen Cooper brandishing a gun to his head.

"Right, Jack. We've got some gobshite here claiming he's a vampire and that he wants our protection?" Jack took one look at the vampire, Nosferatu looked back at him and said "Familiarity. It's a likeness, a commonality that makes you stare. You're like me, boy, you've felt Death touch you before and like me she just can't keep a hold on you." Jack shivered and turned away, Nosferatu looked at Rex and said "Your friend here clearly has the same problem. I much prefer vampirism to constant resurrection. I'd rather be a child's nightmare than a never ending Messiah, thanks." Rex also ignored him and Jack said to Gwen "Take him to the cells, we'll know what to do with him there." And so, after the Welsh bitch in leather dragged him there, he spent his night in a grey little shithole with no water or central heating. He didn't mind, he was dead already and he was actually glad it lacked a window, the blood wouldn't last much longer and the dawn would have certainly killed him. He had used up far too much energy flitting to Britain during his rampage. Death wouldn't find him here, but he could still find her. Going deep within his mind, Nosferatu suddenly felt his nose begin to bleed as the meditation set in. He saw her, not ten miles away, feasting on a corpse and relishing every second of it. Well, by that he meant claiming their life essence. She couldn't see him, but he could see her, blood streaming from her tear ducts like nothing. Her blonde form was still apparent, but she was obviously still regaining strength and would need some form of servant if she wanted to capture him. If he wanted to defeat her, he needed a plan. So, he looked into her head, he was an equal to her in power from what little strength of will he obtained from the Shape all that millennia ago, so she did fear him and was cowed by his capabilities, so him reading her mind would not have been unthinkable. All he needed was a suggestion, to draw her into a death trap, a plan to destroy her. The answer lay within the confines of her mind.

**Gallifrey**

"I'm dead," he thought, feeling the almighty bullet piercing him. It was not any weapon he felt, so he thought there must be more power than the mere work of a Terran blacksmith fuelling it, somehow. It burst his chest cavity, he felt regeneration come upon him and then suddenly grind to a halt deep within his veins. Chuckie Finster was going to die and there was nothing he could do about it. It had been Tommy Pickles, his oldest friend, who had pulled the trigger with temptation and killed him. So many urges left Chuckie for the next hour, the urge to kill, the urge to maim, the urge to do a lot of things considered socially unacceptable etc.

His sister clutched his body in defiance for about five minutes crying before running away picking Tommy up and seemingly pulling his semi-comatose form up the mountains, to Mount Cadon it seemed. Chuckie just laid there in his own blood. Typical of her really, he goes and threatens to sacrifice her life for the greater good and she leaves his body to rot while she goes to help her boyfriend. Blood continued to pour from all parts of his body, he noticed how bloody his clothing was and realised that he was too far gone for Kimi or Tommy to have done anything. He thought back to three weeks ago, when the ever so seductive voice of a woman came to him in his nightmares "Don't be afraid, Charles. You are a hero. A much braver one than Tommy will ever be. You've got the power to save this whole world by doing just one thing." She went over the whole process of summoning the Fendahl as well as the location of the Fendahl Core to him. She had told him so much and the weird thing is she was in all of his dreams before he did something important. When he formed the Others or every night before an assassination, she came to him. She was nowhere near as much of an irritant as that fucking drumbeat though. Lil must have thought she was so funny this afternoon. All Chuckie wanted to do was strangle her after that. Now, all he wanted to do was find a new noise and a new voice in his head. He got neither. The drums continued incessantly and then she came.

"You couldn't even be my quickest champion, you're only the 3000th quickest. Irineth only lasted two days and Bilbo five minutes. But you, no you had to last five years in the fucking gig?" Death laughed at him. Chuckie stood up, somehow, he didn't know whether it was his body or his consciousness doing the moving, and he couldn't care less either, unlike say someone reading a fanfiction right now. "Be quiet, you bitch! Why did you make me do this? Why did you lead me down a dark alley to try and destroy Gallifrey? You've helped me so many times in the past, why not now?

The strange woman chuckled at him. She appeared comely in this form, but still quite daunting and intimidating, her eyes and the jewellery in her forehead made Chuckie reach for a weapon of some form. A dark crystal of purest jade just stared back at him with an intensity that actually kind of turned him on. It made him think of dead puppies, he's Death's Champion, he's got to do something right in such a shit job. He snapped back into reality. This was not him, this was not the boy who had been drowned by Torvic…drowned by Torvic, but that was Tommy. How could it not be? He had killed Torvic to save Tommy. Or had he? Or was it neither of them, was it Death herself all along, influencing either one or the other? How did he know who she was?

"The reason you know who and what I am, boy, is because in this state of imminent death, you have come to see yourself through the eyes of the people on this plane of existence. You see yourself as Death's Champion. Chuckie Finster would never have such disturbing thoughts. He was a kind boy who did little, if anything, to stand up for himself. You, on the other hand are an incompetent excuse for a monstrosity. You think you can be my Champion? I told you about the Fendahl Core, because I knew you would be stopped. Who planted the suggestion in your head to tell Borusa? Who gave Tommy the inkling to go visit Azmael and learn all he could? Who made sure the Colt fell into Azmael's hands? I did. Because I knew Tommy would kill you and I'd finally be rid of you and your foolishness."

Chuckie was agog, Tommy had been engineered to kill him because of what Chuckie had done. And it was all her fault. Well, Charles Crandall Finster III isn't going to take shit like that from nobody, immortal goddess or no. "And how am I incompetent? Tell me now?" "You never take any initiative, you rely on Tommy and that ragtag gang of yours to do my work and lack much physical attirbutes that are suited to my desires. Oh well, I suppose we did choose you both very much. Tommy's not the Champion of any of my kind, so you should be grateful I even had you at such a young age. Tommy would have been better in the lover department though. Still, he's probably fucking your sister brain-dead over your corpse right now. You should have killed her, then maybe I would have considered keeping you on. I had no choice but to seize Tommy's mind briefly, allow his urges to spring forth. You see now that you're dead, Tommy is the new Champion. And he'll crush anything and everything under his jackboot, because unlike you he has a drive to act. Regardless of the consequences. You on the other hand are a spineless, impotent worm."

That was it, Chuckie seized her throat. No power on Gallifrey or on the astral plane could stop him from throttling her. "Release Tommy! And come back to me now! I will do your work. Just wait and see, my plan will come true. And I could do it just as easily without you and I probably wouldn't take you back if I didn't know that you will take Tommy. And I can't allow that to happen, I'm afraid. So, either I kill you here and now and you live on through Tommy, and I'll stay dead. Or I'll kill you in the future at some point, but before that I'll live to carry out my master plan!"

"You Gallifreyan imbecile! You couldn't kill me if you tried. I am an Eternal and you are an Ephemeral. I…" she writhed and squirmed, yet could not seem to escape his grip. "Would you like to gamble that, because I'm starting to feel flesh and a pulse in this celestial form of yours I'm holding?" Death tensed upon hearing that and began to quieten down. "That's much better. Now, Death, you should know better than to underestimate me. I studied the Menti Celesti after you claimed me that night, you know. It was all there, my astral self, begging for help, at the back of my mind, imploring me to recover him from your thrall. I know your weakness now because of him. And it's been set up to kill you one day. If that were to fall into the wrong hands, then I fear my darling mistress will be down a lifetime!"

Death backed off and slowly began to walk away: "Now, you will resurrect me without a moment's notice, relinquish Tommy and abandon my people! I will crush Morbius first, in your name! Give me this one attempt, and he will be riddled with the stings of the Vespiform and the ailments of a Cyberman of Mondas. He will be nothing, I will destroy his body, until all that's left are patchwork organs for a patchwork tyrant. Let me live, and so shall it be!"

"I guess I don't have a choice. You are a feisty one, Finster. It was unwise of me to turn on you like that. Keep up the good work."

Chuckie awoke on a table in a dark room in Gallifrey's underbelly. The room smelled of his blood and his chest had a gaping hole where the bullet must have once been. He was alive, somehow. The Others must have found him and taken him to safety. The room was dark, damp and foreboding. He could hear a drip of water, ceaselessly dripping from some disused pipe. Smoke filled the room as out of the shadows filed his acolytes. "He lives! Koschei lives! O, blessed Koschei, do tell us of your efforts with the so-called Fendahl. Did you summon their vociferous magnitude to our world?"

"If I had, I wouldn't be alive would I. One look at the Fendahl Core in feminine form means certain enchantment. The Fendahl was not a move we should have made on this chess board, boys. We need to make ourselves more open, less covert. Let not just the Capitol, but the planet, if not the galaxy know who we are and what we intend to do. This is why I have chosen the name of the Voiceless Others for our group, in honour of the Other himself and how we lack any form of voice under Morbius, so we use force of arms instead." Everyone in the room summarily spat at once at the mention of Morbius's name. "Quite right. And there must be rumours of my death abounding the Capitol by now?" The acolytes nodded in assent. "Excellent. So my survival should be made note of. Koschei is a name from Terran folklore. Perhaps, I shall be Koschei the Deathless, just as he was. For more reasons than one." "What do you mean, sir?" "Why I mean…I can't quite remember…only a little. Just, as of now Death cannot touch me, officially. Spread the rumour of my immortality to all corners of the Capitol. Terror and blood will run the streets of Gallifrey before our crusade ends."

And it did, that night Morbius' son, Gendel, was stabbed to death in a brothel by a whore he solicited in the murky undergrowth of the Capitol. Three months later, Morbius himself was attacked in the street, until it transpired to be a decoy. The decoy was allowed to live being left with only the scars of what they had done to him. A warning to the coward he had given so much to defend. The Voiceless Others were the most powerful force in the Capitol yet they had no political representation whatsoever. Koschei the Deathless became like Robin Hood and his gang, the Merry Men, too many. But to others they were equivalent to what the IRA or the ETA were to a lot of people on Earth. Most of those people lived in fear on both ends; either of these terrorists or of Morbius. They had oppression on one end and extremist violence on the other. Who would they support? More importantly, which did they want to live with? All that was guaranteed in life at this time on Gallifrey was that there would be death. And plenty of it. Koschei stood over them all, glaring with a magnanimous air, sensing all their vagaries, everything. For he had discovered so much since that night. Oh, so much…

Chuckie Finster on the other hand blended back into his own life, as if nothing had happened. It would be a long time before he'd even mention that night to Tommy or Kimi, or how he survived. He continued to attend the Deca, every meeting and he desisted in suggesting methods akin to the Fendahl for a few weeks. Then came the end of the year, the evening before the exams a Deca meeting was held, and Chuckie made it clear to his fellow members what the next plan of action would be.

"We need to defeat Morbius sooner rather than later. Every night the Voiceless Others either kill or are killed in the streets. I'm not going to live with that. The Deca need to act, there's more than just us and the Voiceless Others out there. Plenty of secret, less noisy, anti-Morbius factions. What we need my brothers and sisters, is unity. And I see in the Deca something more organised than any other faction in the whole of the Capitol. We need to get our name out there; that we are the leaders of the revolution. These militias all follow suit underneath us; we need unity. All successful revolutions in the history of the universe have had an alliance of the various disparate groups dedicated to it united in bitterness against the regime. Some are more radical than ourselves, but with our leadership we can offer a new Constitution benefiting all factions which will guarantee the greatest freedoms to our people. But in spite of this, Morbius could still crush us. He is resourceful and has an ever growing army of not just supporters, but foreign elements from across the stars. Somehow the Imperator has forged a following across the galaxy. And were he to call them in for an invasion, we would be subjugated, then annihilated, without a second's thought. We need more than the other rebels, but we still require them. No, what we need is a god on our side. And I know just who."

The entire meeting looked him dead in the eyes. They had been transfixed on him for the entire meeting, either with concern or awe in their eyes for him. Those with concern were anyone who really knew him, but those who had the most intense looks of wonder in their eyes were two people he knew Tommy and the others had become good friends with, Rallon and Millennia. The two lovers, he knew they would be brave enough to do what he was about to suggest, something which no Gallifreyan would do in a million years, with the exception of the membership of the Deca. He smiled, knowing his friends all too well. Borusa appeared to be very frustrated and concerned at the same time with his student. Chuckie looked up at him and smirked, as if to say that Borusa lacked any influence this day.

"The Guardian of Dreams. A figure known to our people as the Celestial Toymaker. His power can save us from them. From Morbius. We can do it. All we need to do is reach out and take it. Who's with me? I'll need three and three alone for this mission. I myself will go if a third does not present themselves, I'm not afraid of some petty lonely god."

Rallon and Millennia both stood up instantly and said in unison "We will Chuckie! For Gallifrey!" before Borusa even had a chance to disapprove. Chuckie shot him down with his finger saying, "Old man, it could take years before we find a way to his realm. I need volunteers now so they're ready for his dreamscape. This is a very lonely god, and a very dangerous one I realise that. And besides our most intelligent and adventurous students have just volunteered, Sir. We have no cause for concern. Is there anyone else? Or must I go and have all the fun with Rallon and Millennia here?" Chuckie indicated at them smiling, beneath that smile he could feel his own thoughts. The duo represented a clash of personalities with himself and others in the last few weeks. They had at times been his supporters, but when it counted they were his harshest enemies. Tommy and the rest of the Rugrats had been so quiet in recent meetings, they had grown to assert themselves in this council before, but now. It was at this point that Nosferatu grew fearful, this Chuckie, whoever he was, was who he needed to kill Death. If he was just one of the Toymaker's dolls, the whole journey would have been for naught. Then a miracle happened…

"I'll do it! I'm not letting you throw their lives away to that monster, Chuckie! No matter what, I'm not letting you sacrifice anyone to him personally, it'll be me joining them that day! Not you! Borusa gets the final decision on who goes…and it seems with all these meetings of late and your growing support he has no choice but to choose the mission. But he decides whether you or I go. And I think we both know whose going!"

Chuckie looked up at the familiar voice of the volunteer. It was Tommy. Tommy looked at his friend with defiant malignancy and said "I will go to the Hallowed Toyroom, into the Void, and I will gain the help of this fabled Toymaker. For good or for ill, I will go." Chuckie didn't even protest at this suggestion, merely nodded and sat down. Tommy was left standing defiantly. He sat down, sweating profusely.

**Birmingham, 2020**

Nosferatu took his time considering these events. Chuckie was alive, he could confirm that, and Chuckie had to be the Master if he was anyone. The drumbeat, the Gallifreyan heritage, the duality, the slyness, the charisma, and his assertion over her. Nosferatu needed him back if this plan was going to work. And he knew that the Master was coming here, escorted by Mickey Smith and Martha Jones. He had whiffed something suspicious off that Smith boy, while he was drugged in his own office, and had picked up a hint of something awfully suspicious. Elaborating on the smell whilst meditating he came across a covert UNIT mission they were going to send to Torchwood, to keep their noses clean. They had been looking for their prisoner, who they couldn't know was the Master. Now he knew the Master was coming here, he had to act now. Then he heard them out in the office.

Picking the lock to his cell with his claws, Nosferatu snuck out to the office where he saw Mr and Mrs Smith handing him over. His face was constantly transforming from the human, Tom Milligan, into a face not unlike Professor Thascalos, his incarnation that UNIT knew of all too well. Harkness held the head of this man in his hands "So, it's you. I heard you were returning, I sensed it in my dreams. After that Torajii seer cursed me I started having dreams, very strange ones. She gave Wilf youth and hyper intelligence, she made me a fucking nutcase." Mott laughed at Harkness in a manner befitting a man born in the 1920s, which he was. Like Nosferatu, age hadn't touched him for a while. Craig Owens was scanning the man in a suspicious manner, which caused him to snap back "Beep, beep, beep! Fucking humans and their gadgets, I hope my Toclafane filleted you in my day!" Craig backed off a little before Martha and Mickey stood silently by him. Matheson then asked "Did this Master say anything on the way back?" "No, he just seemed happy there was no more drums," Martha replied.

Jack put his hand on Martha's shoulder and said "Martha, I know you and this guy had something but the Cult of Saxon kidnapped him so long ago, I don't think there's anything left for him. He's just the Master now. So Master, how did you survive? And why are you using the body of Tom Milligan?" The Master sneered and said "He's my son. I've been using my hybrid children as hosts for my resurrection. Tom passed the test. We gutted him, inserted an extra heart and kept pumping left over Chula nanogenes from London. Tom's grandparents were healed during the Second World War of some unknown alien plague by said nanogenes. Tom inherited them so we used them to convert his biology into that of a Time Lord, with a full regenerative cycle. My memories and some left over Cyber conversion machinery from International Electromatics in the 1960s allowed Tom to become my host. He keeps resisting me, but less and less each day. Every day he fights me less and less…" "Listen, Kaiser Chiefs! That's a living human being you're using and killing. I think you should stop being so fucking callous and let him go," Craig Owens snapped in a very passionate manner.

The Master leered at Owens with eyes that said, "Do you think I don't care? I would if she didn't hold me?" "She, who's she?" Jack Harkness asked his eyebrow raising. "Death. All these years I thought it was the drumbeat but no, that was just an irritant, drawing me in for the End of Time. It was her influence that made me so evil. When I was a child, I was kind, shy and compassionate. I did everything for my friends and they did everything for me. Especially the Doctor." Martha gasped and said "I told him they were secret brothers. I told him, didn't I Jack?" The Master looked up at her and said "You've been watching too much Netflix on your IPad 7. Fucking Terrans and your cheap entertainment. I never had a brother. I did had a family once though and they loved me just as much as I love them. I never knew my own mother. I had another mother, my father's second wife, a woman with a very uncommon ability for kindness. I had so much, so much. And it's all gone. All gone. Died long before Gallifrey. I had a sister. And…and…and…I had friends. Most important of all, I had friends."

Nosferatu walked into the room at that moment and bellowed before the team "Now, you are all going to listen to me. I don't care what you idiots have to say now, all you have to know is this. That man is the only hope I have to save existence itself from Death. She is damaged because of him, because he knows how to hurt her, how to ravage her and if I'm right, how to kill her. She is insane and very, very volatile. She will destroy this planet and then the universe unless he kills her. And I need him to do that…" He was interrupted with a bullet to the chest from Matheson, then another from Cooper and one in the head from Harkness. "Hmm, tickles." Nosferatu released regenerative energy not unlike that of the Time Lords which fired the bullets back at his three failed assassins. Cooper's bullet ricocheted out the window, whilst Harkness and Matheson were gunned down. "Now, I'll be taking him if you don't mind." Nosferatu flitted and sent each member of the Torchwood team spiralling in opposite directions through his sheer force of will. Mott went under the desk, Owens smashed his head off a computer, Cooper was tripped and rendered unconscious and finally Harkness and Matheson had a whole wall placed on top of them. "Don't think I don't know about the trick you two can pull." Martha fired at Nosferatu but he was too quick, oh far too quick. Martha felt sheer pain rush along her wrist as she saw it, her right hand had been severed in a split-second. All she could do was lie down and scream. She wanted vengeance, but the pain and the shock was too great for even her to bare.

"Mortals, you're all so whiney. I have nothing because of Death and you will too if you don't let me do this and destroy her once and for all. Now Smith, looks like you're next." But then a grip of sheer power was felt around Nosferatu's neck, he choked and struggled with all his might to no avail. "Poor, poor Nosey. Your smelling sense isn't very potent these days is it? You couldn't even pick up one of my servants in the room. I never thought I'd kill you because of some amateurish mistake like this, but well who knows anymore?" Mickey Smith was holding him with a grip tighter than any human could have been capable of. And for some reason he spoke with a woman's voice. A very familiar woman's voice. Then it dawned on him, "Of course. I thought you had killed Smith that day in my basement. I dismissed it when I saw him here, how foolish of me. You had possessed him. You wanted to bring the Master here, to lure me out all along. You possessed Smith because you knew in my madness, my instincts would draw me here. Well then, I deserve nothing except what you have to offer. Kill me now, but remember I'm not the only one in this crusade."

"Oh, but you are, Nosey baby. There's no one else, apart from the Master here. And he's crying in his own faeces at the moment. So, any last words." "Only that you will be dead soon. And my species will have their vengeance on you and on those accursed Time Lords." Nosferatu then felt her remove his head from his body, as she had Mickey Smith drive a wooden stake right through his heart immediately afterwards. "He will find the Doctor, Nosferatu. Whether you like it or not. And then my schemes shall come to their denouement. And where will you be on that day, darling?" Nosferatu only felt his immortality leave him, as he thought of the last piece in his plan. His grand scheme. Oh, in death he would bring her down, finally. The Master was pawn to both of them, and she didn't even realise it. It was the Doctor who mattered. Checkmate, Grim. Checkmate…

Later that evening, the Torchwood team recovered themselves. Mickey Smith had been restored to normal and helped revive them. Wilfred Mott had healed faster than most and Martha needed treatment on her wound, having passed out from the shock and getting a concussion after Nosferatu severed her hand. Jack had a new cybernetic hand attached. Jack and Rex merely healed. Martha and Mickey stayed close, just in case they could find any trace of Nosferatu apart from the clothing he left behind. A week later, after keeping the Master secure in the cells all that time. Jack Harkness received a letter saying:

_The last remnants of Torchwood Three are cordially invited to Totter's Lane on 19__th__ Jul 2020, to celebrate the twentieth wedding anniversary of Ben Jackson and Polly Wright. And more importantly to celebrate the lives and loves of the one and only Doctor…_


	12. The Hour of the Fraterculus

**New Arcadia, 500 million**

The stench ran across all five miles of habitable land they had now. An oasis on a planet inhabited by none before the last surviving Tardises brought them here before they died. Only about 4,500 Time Lords had made it out that day. The day their sky burned and the Doctor, their once saviour, had looked back in shame. Irving Braxiatel had had no pride for his brother that day. He understood that perhaps he had good motivations, but on one hand he had saved their world and on the other he had destroyed them utterly, without considering goodness coming of it. Brax loved his brother, on their mother's deathbed he had promised to protect him from any and all that came after them, which is why he led these refugees here. To the system where their enemy had been born, the ancient and foreboding image of the Dalek. He had cared so much for him, he had even killed for him. When his brother left Gallifrey with his granddaughter, all those years ago, the then President Pandak VII ordered their removal from time and space. Braxiatel had been his Lord Burner, the artist for his painting of the absent. Braxiatel arranged an accident to kill that man, because of his mother and because family matters. Did the Doctor take the same mercy with the knowledge that Braxiatel was on Gallifrey this time?

Braxiatel had been killed so long ago, during the Time War. But like most Gallifreyans he was raised from the dead by replication machines left over by the Faction Paradox. It should never have happened, the Faction Paradox had made them when Gallifrey was supposed to be a ruin. Until the Last Great War in Heaven ended and the planet was repopulated to make way for the Time War against the Daleks. The original Braxiatel died fighting Daleks on the planet Zygor. The new Braxiatel was born on the parody that was once Gallifrey. He looked just as he had before, smart, dapper and unassuming with dark hair and a caring smile. He missed his childhood self by all accounts. When he was about ten years old he was very curious and kindly. He was far more imaginative than his elder brother, and that was saying something, where his brother was intelligent. These days, it had always been vice versa. In his pre-adolescence, he had started to study, realising the real world would only embrace him and his ideas with qualifications. And qualifications required study. He studied so hard, because he knew that one day his creativity could be put to the test when he was in the higher echelons of Gallifreyan society. Outside influence was always a possibility, at the age he was he didn't care to remember, as the devil is in the details, as humans tend to say. His membership of the Deca whilst at second level had led him to become a political savant, feeling that Morbius would be overthrown by the time he was of age. He wasn't, and Braxiatel became a lowly clerk, assuming the name Irving Braxiatel for the first time. The revolution eventually won out, but its leaders became renegades, so altogether it was a failure. Braxiatel became frustrated working as a clerk and later in key political positions such as Cardinal and even ambassador, as he couldn't keep up any hobbies and his creativity was stifled. So he founded a Collection on the asteroid of KS 159. Here he hired people who travelled in time, generally of other species such as Killorans, humans etc. who had just been in the wrong moment in space/time at the wrong event causality. One of these had been a former companion of the Doctor's, Professor Bernice Summerfield. She and he had their differences, probably because deep down like his brother, he found a spark of them within her. This commonality had sparked an attraction for his brother once, though Braxiatel doubted his brother would ever love another woman after his wife, not long term anyway. Maybe that's why he abandoned all those who followed him in the end. He couldn't bear another serious relationship. Not anymore.

Now, for once the Brothers Pickles had to live up to responsibilities. Like his brother, he loathed them. Brax had always preferred his pursuits of ancient artefacts or his inventing, a hobby at which he was far less adept than he had been in his first incarnation. He paced down the row of tents set up from the remains of Tardises. This was the third week of famine and plague in the colony of New Arcadia, Gallifrey's only remaining bastion. It was named after the first settlement of the planet itself to fall to the Daleks at the end of the war. He had led them here with the help of their former President, the Lady Romana, a woman now sickly beyond belief, but he knew she would recover. It was only the third time she had succumbed, so a regeneration would be soon. Narvin on the other hand, her adjutant, was far fitter than she was. He had not succumbed once despite constant exposure to the elements. Brax hadn't succumbed for reasons undisclosed to them. It was his half-human physiology, Time Lords were rarely exposed to illness, whereas humans were. He had a side of his heritage which was used to the elements and could survive even harsher conditions than this. The hay fever epidemic was ravaging these Gallifreyans, simply because on this small oasis on this insignificant planet, the flowers pollinated in the summer. He dreaded the fate of his people as winter is coming for them, and he knew it all too well.

Braxiatel couldn't understand why the flowers pollinated or even grew here before they settled here, or how there had even been a sliver of oxygen to exploit. The sun of Skaro had long been annihilated with the Hand of Omega by his brother, to give the Daleks a show of force. Yes, there was talk of the Daleks swapping planets but his brother always thought of that as a lie, the Daleks had merely moved to a New Skaro. Regardless the Sun of this system was long dead, and Braxiatel could see the devastation on every other planet from the supernova. Absolutely nothing was alive, except for them. He wondered why, the other planets were also particularly healthy looking for victims of a supernova. They all stood intact, albeit devoid of life. Something was keeping them alive that he couldn't comprehend, but it would be unlike a refugee to question miracles, so he moved on.

Bodies were dragged out with their eyes crusted over completely before regenerating, victims of the hay fever plague. Braxiatel knew that a whole town of regenerating Time Lords was a disaster in the making, his people being so volatile at rebirth. He came to Lady Romana's tent, where Narvin was sat beside her, crying profusely into his hands. All Braxiatel could see was the horrific image of Romana's eyes gone beyond red, crimson, and she couldn't stop rubbing them. The incessant rubbing drove him wild just looking at it. The accursed hay fever would be the ultimate death of his people, why did they have to be so insular and detached in the past. The consequences were now coming back to haunt them. She sneezed causing him and Narvin to leap backwards for fear of infection. "I'm afraid my Lady's condition is deteriorating with no hope of restoration, there is a slim possibility of regeneration, but they're saying that the disease has going beyond that. I'm afraid our quest for utopia was all for naught, Braxiatel. Since we're not infected, there's only one thing left to do for us. Stasers to the head at dawn tomorrow. I know we'd all love to survive, but do either of us want to be affected as soon as this thing mutates any further? We can burn the bodies but sooner or later the immune shall become susceptible to this scourge, and only you and I haven't even been touched once. Maybe it's time, friend. I beg of you. Come with me."

Braxiatel didn't bother to reply, he merely said to Narvin, "I'd like to speak to Romana, please. I'd like to make my peace with her before the end. The end which I fear shall claim you and me long before you recharge that staser of yours. We couldn't survive on another planet as nomads, it's not in our people to do that, after millions of years as gods, living as mortals in a wasteland far away from the orange sky and redgrass fields of my birth. That Narvin is what our people have been left for, and that Narvin is why I will never, ever give up. Death is coming for you and me, and what of it? What of it? We are certainly not giving her a red carpet, now are we? Think on that, boy and give me some privacy with your mistress."

Narvin left looking quite puzzled at Braxiatel's outburst. Brax placed his hand on the hands of the woman he had grown to admire and love like a daughter in all the years he had spent serving her and see her mature through the political system of Gallifrey all the way up to the position of President of the High Council. Some days he wished he had married like his brother had and had a family. He thought if he did it would probably have been with Romana, seeing as he had no similar feelings of affection for anyone else apart from family members like his mother and his long dead nieces, but he knew love barely existed between Time Lords anymore. Although those who had seen the universe like him and Romana could talk and chat, which was an emotional chemistry most Time Lords lacked. Perhaps she had gravitated towards Narvin because opposites attract, or maybe she just loathed Braxiatel as much as anyone with any form of abstract thought who wasn't related to him did, which was why feelings were never obviously reciprocated. Either that or she was just as much of a Jesuitical celibate as he. "Oh, Braxiatel, I'm dying aren't I, with no hope of survival? Oh, typical. Didn't think someone like me would be this susceptible but there you go, dying of hay fever."

Braxiatel soothed her and said "It's not so bad, we did the best we could in the six months we had since we led them all out of that wormhole to this sledge heap. We did the best we could. Did you tell Narvin to shoot himself, because unlike Narvin I am not so easily persuaded as you might think?" Romana laughed whilst coughing up blood "You have to admit it's only a matter of time before he succumbs. You on the other hand, will be fine, we'll all be dead and the virus will peter out in the end. That's why I requested he leave a staser bolt for you. In case you get lonely." Braxiatel smiled and fighting back tears said "We'll resist it like we did the Daleks. We'll fight back, Romana, please, you can't die. You've redeemed yourself, please Romana! You cannot die! Not now!" He left feeling more alone than the woman he left to die in her bed.

That night, came a sound all too familiar to the refugees. The sound of a roaring engine whooshing through the ether and burning through the skies. To the peoples of the Earth, it means hope. To the people of Gallifrey, it meant home. And home means death. A Type 90 Tardis landed before the refugees as out stalked two people whom Braxiatel hoped had died with their planet, carrying some medical paraphernalia. "Who wants to be saved?" Cetrine tablets were handed out to each and every one of the people there, soon the virus subsided and the casualties were drastically reduced.

The visitors came to see him and the recovering Romana that night. "Hello, Irving. Please don't say hello to your blessed saviours, I'm afraid I couldn't handle any form of pampering." Braxiatel's lips trembled at the form of the Rani before saying "I'd rather we all died than be in the debt of a warrior temptress who enslaves races and turns their blood into narcotics. You make me sick. Drugging my people like that. If they weren't desperate you wouldn't be alive now, I'd have hung you and that irksome brother of yours from the highest rafters until you regenerated to death." The Rani and Mortimus laughed "Abandoned the monks habit, have we, Phillip?" "That's Mortimus, to you punk. And my sister only ever called me that and she won't again. What's in a name anyway? We chose these names because we're not those people anymore. When a Time Lord grows up they either stay the same or are revolutionised beyond belief, either nothing or everything alters, like a windmill, if one part breaks the others slow down but ultimately does not stop, only falters. Take down most of them and they fall altogether." Braxiatel suddenly starts laughing "Does Mortimus or the Monk tell Phil Deville that every night? Or the Rani to Lil Deville? That our past is nothing. Yes, we evolve and become different people but we never ever forget what once was. For ourselves. You on the other hand have forgotten everything kind and lovely about yourselves. You have killed Phil and Lil Deville, my old friends, through the incapacity of your memories. What happened to the two babies who dropped me on the head in my infancy?"

The Rani's face betrayed nothing, but Mortimus had a distinct look of shame about him, so impervious to nothing was his face that Brax could not help but grin inanely at him. "We have come before you today, Former President Romana and Cardinal Irving Braxiatel of the Lost High Council of Gallifrey, to propose a revenge strategy." Brax laughed at the Rani's proposal "And what would this revenge strategy be? Considering we already made a balls of erasing the Daleks from history what could this one be? Kill Davros' grandfather? Have Skaro a few parsecs to the left of this Suns' orbit? What on Earth could we do? Oh, you renegades and your passions." Mortimus and the Rani scowled at Braxiatel as he continued to chuckle in a most insecure way. "No, we're going to conquer the Earth, subjugate the populace, hold them to ransom until the Doctor surrenders himself and then conquer the universe and form a New Time Lord Empire," the Rani responded without batting an eyelid.

It was now Romana's turn to imply idiocy in the minds of their peers "You bring this to us? The two people in the universe who are closest to the Doctor left of our species. Give me one good reason, apart from your magic cures, why we don't just kill you and use your Tardis to find more, in case of a further epidemic? Be gone, before I execute the pair of you for renegade activities?" "If you do that, Lady Romana, then you'll have a revolution on your hands. And then our species will be extinct with the exception of the Doctor! Do you want that on your conscience, Romana? Because if you don't we'd be more than happy to oblige by staying and fulfilling governmental duties for the good of our nation. And I'm sure you'd be more than happy to facilitate our desire for a New Time Lord Empire, wouldn't you. Or perhaps, the Cardinal and Madame President's personal connection to the man who made so many of these people homeless will become public knowledge?"

Braxiatel stood up proud and bellowed "And where were you when these people needed food? Where were you when they needed someone to lead them from our dying world? Where were you when everything was falling apart? You found me, now if you want this world, or me, or Romana, you'll need to stop jumping in just to assume power? Those people out there are loyal to us!" The Rani smirked before breaking Braxiatel's nose and then breaking nearly every bone in his body with a few movements of her wrist. Mortimus detained Romana and dragged her away.

Braxiatel and Romana were sentence to life imprisonment by the Show Trials of the new regime. It had been decided in the Public Forum, that the colony would decide between Romana and the Rani as to who would be their new leader, due to their supporters' anger at the fact that she had been imprisoned. Braxiatel couldn't think of any arguments for her, because he knew that to remove the influence of the twins he would need force. All he could think of was how twisted his old friends had become. He remembered a time when Tommy was at the brink like them and he needed his brother more than ever. The Hour of the Little Brother, they had called it, until the untimely intervention of another…

**Mount Cadon, Gallifrey**

A break from study was all Dill Pickles needed. All this never ending study was becoming tiresome for a creative little boy. He looked at the stars and placed one metallic glove on his hand. He began to rearrange them one by one using the glove. It was a Star Phonograph, it could rearrange the skies when in a timeless world the likes of Gallifrey. Dill couldn't stop himself changing constellations to his own preference in the night sky. This is what a child of the gods must play at, this is what too much power can create. Boredom. Dill loved this activity with stars because it was so unorthodox for his species, they who lived such boring lives with near limitless powers. If only something interesting would happen on Gallifrey, sure they had a dictator but he did little that was disgraceful or exciting in public.

"Dill, quick he's bleeding out!" Dill shot up and saw Kimi Finster dragging his brother who appeared to be haemorrhaging from his ear, he seemed to be carrying a weapon not unlike a Terran handgun. Dill rushed to his brother's aid and asked Kimi what had happened. She didn't even look at him with what he could tell must have been an ashamed face. They dragged Tommy into the House of Lungbarrow at the slope of the mountain and positioned him on a dining table. Dill hoped that his brother wouldn't wake any of the house by screaming. Dill went into the kitchens to find some pills in the medicine cabinet. He gave some to Tommy who stopped writhing and clattering. His brother remained still and unconscious for about half an hour. In the meantime, Dill asked Kimi to tell him everything.

"It all started just after school when Chuckie attended our after school…uh, study group…and he said something to the rest of us about how he had a solution for the despotism on the planet, and he presented this skull. Tommy went to find out what it was from teachers and the library, seemingly, and I followed Chuckie home. I heard him communicating with some grunt who told him to go out to the coast. He caught me listening to him and so he dragged me out there, and said he was going to make me the avatar of the Fendahl Core. Tommy showed up and convinced him not to by giving him a book. He killed the other twelve guys he needed to make Fendahleen or something, they were there as well. Tommy then shot and killed him after he said he wouldn't stop trying to kill Morbius. Dill, my big brother, is Koschei, the leader of the Voiceless Others, and he tried to summon the Fendahl, the perfect assassins to our world in the hope of overthrowing the government. My brother was volatile, so Tommy put him down." Dill put his hand on Kimi's shoulder to comfort her, saying he understood. Sometimes he didn't trust Tommy entirely, so he knew how to sympathise with Kimi over what it's like to not trust your elder sibling. Tommy told him all those years ago about how Quences wanted them to escape the House for his own protection, it didn't take him long to put two and two together and realise Tommy had killed someone through the details of that lie. Tonight, he would ask his brother all about that day, with no lies this time.

Tommy awoke to Dill and Kimi standing before him "The Hour of the Little Brother is upon you, T. Fess up to everything." Tommy was too shocked to reply before Dill said "You killed Torvic McNulty when you were eight years old, didn't you? And now you've killed Chuckie Finster. They say they always strike again when the blood is boiling in their brain like a hormonal hot spring. In other words, puberty gives birth to murderers." "I killed Chuckie? Never. I couldn't have. Dill, Kimi, you're both making big mistakes."

Kimi was the first to let her rage unfurl at Tommy, "You're the one who's made a mistake, here! You who were once so honest and brave, Tommy Pickles. You became a liar after that day and you know it. Never once did I hear an untruth pass those lips before then. Before you had to lie, to save your own skin. Yes, Chuckie is a killer too. But only because he, in the end, believed your manipulative fodder. Now I know you were both capable of great evil. I regret ever loving you and I'm sure Dill regrets being your blood." Kimi began to put her face in her hands as Dill comforted her. Tommy began to cry as well saying "I'm sorry for whatever it is I've done, but I can't remember anything beyond Chuckie making his speech when he was about to kill you, Kimi. As far as I can see if I did kill him, I saved you. I saved you, which is the one thing in this universe I want more than anything else, and that is to ensure your safety. I love you too." Kimi just left. She walked away with Dill following her saying "You can have my room tonight, Kimi. I'll probably be up all night handling this idiot. Family time, you see. Just hope Mom or Dad don't show up."

Tommy watched as the girl who was almost his girlfriend left the dining hall and his brother walked up and punched him in the face before summarily picking him up and holding him tightly by the shoulders. "You need to focus, brother. She can never know this. I've been having them too. Something else driving our instinct altogether, another force from outside our world bleeding into this one. I don't know who they are and I don't know what they want, but I've been learning to resist them. Our lives are just pawns Tommy, pawns on the chess board of some antiquated old fogies who are tired of existence not being like a stage play. I can see it in your eyes, they've been in your dreams too. Kimi told me that Chuckie was the same, and so was she. Our destiny has become quintessential to the continuity of the universe. I don't know if it's the Menti Celesti or the Elder Gods or the Osirians or hell, even, this God guy that Grandma and Grandpa seem to follow. Something's pushing us forward and making us betray ourselves, I'm slowly but surely losing, but Tommy you're destined for great things. If killing Chuckie is what it takes to snap you out of this funk, then you need to snap out of it. Be honest, be kind. Be a friend."

"How touching it is to see my great-grand nephews acting just as I and my brother did all those years ago. Welcome home, Tommy it seems you've come back early." Standing in the great door behind them was Quences, smiling inanely in a sinister manner neither had seen the old man exhibit. "Dylan, you should know by now that Tommy is merely following the path your father and grandfather took and you are right to dissuade him. He's taking the path of selfishness. Your great-grandfather, my brother, Malcolm, only ever served Gallifrey above and beyond the call of duty. He never ever, betrayed his home world, and he died fighting for a corrupt government he didn't agree with. He was selfless. His descendants, with the exception of your Uncle Drew, were not. Drew used his selfishness practically for the good of Gallifrey. Your father and grandfather just visited the universe. Your grandfather will be dead before me, I know this much. He's far too happy to live much longer, my bitterness is what has allowed me to get past 6000. Your Grandpa Lou has the pressures of the universe on him, I have the pressures of this House. Which is why, Tommy, you need to follow in my footsteps and become our Houses' greatest son. Make the Pickles family of the House of Lungbarrow, the greatest family on Gallifrey. I know you were involved in the death of Torvic McNulty and I celebrate that fact, because his family are Morbius loyalists and purists to a fault. You on the other hand, Tommy, will be President one day, if Morbius falls as you and your crew intend. And don't think I don't know about that."

"But how, Quences? How could you possibly know about my revolutionary dissidence?" Tommy asked with much perplexity. "I'm an intelligent man who's seen an awful lot to know who is doing what. Plus, having a spy network in the Capitol doesn't dampen any hopes or dreams of mine regarding one's own thirst for knowledge. No, I agreed with your Grandpa all those years ago that my heir would be of his own line. I never married you know, never had any children. My younger brother had a daughter called Miriam, you remember her don't you, the gambling fiend. Well, I think I was right to choose your grandfather's line. He has three grandchildren, of which I can choose at random to succeed me. But one of you will also be President."

Tommy couldn't believe how brutally honest and sly this man he loathed for his falsetto kindness was all of a sudden. "Why are you telling me this?" "Because, nephew, I realise you're a man now. You've taken your first blood. The Kithriarch in my day wouldn't look at me twice until that day. He told me how much of a disappointment I was compared to my older brothers. I murdered him five centuries to the day after he told me that. The day you take your first blood in this House is the day it tells you its secrets. And it is well overdue for you, Pickles. You were born into a House devoted to worshipping Death herself. I know it's unpleasant, but most of her Champions have come from this House. We owe our very existence to her, her family have done nothing to advance our future. She has chosen you, Tommy, for such great things, but yet you've thrown her away, dismissed her even though she loves you. You could be her Champion and conquer the universe in her name. Your cousin Angelica will become President when Morbius dies should this revolution cease to exist, and you Dill will go on to take my place as Kithriarch. Either way all three of you are my pawns above everyone else's, even Death. I've been influencing you all ever since I made the pact with your grandfather official. You can decide between the positions, though I think Death is not going to let go of Tommy all that easily. You've had five years, boy. She wants you back."

"I always knew you were hiding something. You've been controlling our lives, waiting for the right moment for us to become your heirs. You ambitious fool, your insecurity is boundless, and do you even know that? Or is your head to far up your arse for you to even comprehend how idiotic and vainglorious you've been?" Tommy retorted before running for the door. "Vaesh danack estra Mogrit!" Quences shouted suspending Tommy in mid-air. On his hand was the symbol of the Ouroborous Circle, in a snake motif.

"Pythia magic! I should have known you were using witchcraft on us! You convinced Angelica to fuck Morbius whenever she could. You convinced Dill to swat it out at the books. You convinced me to join the revolution and…and…you convinced me to kill Chuckie. You've been serving Death all along, haven't you! Well, if this is the kind of family I have, I hope all three of us ruin the reputation of this House beyond reproach, and it will be all your fault, beloved uncle. Well, there are some things stronger than magic. I call them loyalty and love, and there's someone in these halls who'd do anything for me and Dill, no matter who they had to hurt, maim or kill."

"Your parents can't help you now, boy!" Quences mocked his nephew as Dill cowered helplessly before him. "You think I mean them! Au contraire! SPIKE! Come here boy!" Quences had a sudden look of fear on his face, that accursed family mutt. He remembered when he stopped visiting when Tommy was a baby because of that thing sniffing him. Bursting through the doors of the Great Hall came a cybernetically-augmented canine bearing his fangs in anger. "Sic him boy!" Dill smirked with confidence. Spike plunged his teeth right into the shin of the familial Kithriarch and Quences unleashed a scream of sheer agony. "Ah, you stupid dog! I'll have you neutered a third time for this!" "Leave my dog alone, you old fart!" Tommy shouted as he plunged to the floor upon Quences losing control of his spell, needing to focus on the pain, the only thing that was real to him now.

Tommy petted his dog upon regaining his footing and Dill joined in with an "Atta boy, Spike! You showed him!" Tommy then stood over their uncle Quences, who was now in tears with the pain, "Now, I take it we have a chance to expose you to this family and end your reign of terror over this House? Your lunacy and witchcraft ends tonight, Quences!" "That won't be happening scouts!" Tommy and Dill looked up to see their Grandpa Lou walk in the door. He looked well after his recent regeneration, young, tall and blonde. He looked closer in age to his grandsons at the moment but still seemed to talk like an old man. He walked over to his uncle and gave him aid, "Quences here is staying put, whether you like it or not. See he's proven to me that you two are ready to fight back against all odds. Which is why you are his heirs. Yes, he is evil and manipulative, but we need him if we're going to survive the storm that will come sooner rather than later. I guarantee you that within the next millennium, our House will fall unless Quences or one of you two is at the helm. Which is why you need to learn from him and follow his advice." Tommy was raging now. He loved his Grandpa so much that those words felt like a knife had just gone right through his heart. "For the good of the House? Quences is a Death cultist, Grandpa! He wants to make me her Champion!" Quences regained his footing, still supported by his nephew "I know I can never make you her Champion, boy! Your resistance and selfishness is far too strong. After all, on the night you killed Torvic I put those dreams in your head."

Tommy was flabbergasted "I didn't kill Torvic McNulty, he tried to kill me. It was… it was… Outsiders. You know it and so do his family, they've accepted that it was some rogue branch of the Outsiders who did it and that Torvic was a foolhardy boy to say the least. But I can guarantee you that I did not kill him." Quences laughed and said "Whatever you say, boy! All I can tell you is that she has her ways. Oh, our dark goddess has her ways indeed. In fact, one day you will be instrumental in her birth, in every timeline there ever was." Tommy couldn't argue anymore with this mad old man he only looked at Lou and said "I hope I never see any other member of this hypocritical family again. Dill and I are too good for you liars! I'm taking him and Spike with me back to the Capitol! Tonight! And Kimi too if she's willing to go! This is the hour of the little brother, this is where I save him from you and the curs who raised us with that warlock freak! Come on, Dill!" "Bro, I'm not going. I've still got one year left here. And Grandpa is right, look at how much Quences has done for this family, for us. Even if he is evil, we can't blame them for forgiveness." Tommy again refused to reply and only grabbed Spike by the collar and dragged him out the door. He roused Kimi and told her they were going home. She followed him home, albeit begrudgingly.

"Kimi, I'm sorry if I killed Chuckie. I truly am. But, it's only because he wanted to kill you. I want you to know this. It was for you and for Gallifrey. Chuckie had lost it, I killed him because…" Kimi just put a finger on his lips, smiled and said "Tommy, I forgive you. Nothing else. You did the right thing, albeit the most drastic." Tommy smiled and hugged Kimi, she let go as quickly as she could. Entering the café in the dead of the night, they received the greatest shock as they saw Chuckie sitting down drinking a cup of coffee. He looked up at Tommy, nodded, and said with a large smile "You've been out a while, haven't you? It's very late! Tests tomorrow, guys!" Tommy and Kimi silently headed upstairs not taking their eyes off Chuckie. Tommy couldn't believe it, Chuckie had survived the Colt. When he was upstairs in the Tardis, Tommy took the Colt from out of his pockets and found that it was fully loaded as it had been before. Someone had cheated Time. Poorly.

**New Arcadia, 500 million**

Irving Braxiatel lay awake thinking of how he had helped his brother and then done the wrong thing. He had sided with the establishment against one of few people who cared for him the most. Rummaging in his pockets, Brax produced a little Catholic crucifix from Rome in the 11th century, engraved in it was "Fraterculus." Latin for little brother. Brax lay awake crying for the remainder of that night. Then, in the dead of morning came a message, a sinister one on the ham radio he had kept from his collection. He had kept it for nostalgic purposes, no other reason. There were no radio wavelengths in this part of the universe. Yet here one was. The message seemed to say:

_Gallifrey Rises…Morbius Rises…Doctor No More…For Gallifrey…We Will Retain Our Divine Right…Time Lords, on the seventh day…look to the stars…Look to the Howling…Look to the Doctor's closest annihilation._


	13. A Shit Ending to a Good Story

**London, 2020**

On the morning of July 19th, a breakout was reported in Birmingham, with no casualties apart from an injured overweight man, babbling in a monotone. He claimed they had detained some rabid animal in their offices for quite some time. Ben Jackson and Polly Wright's twentieth wedding anniversary was cited in the London Times, as well as the numerous friends and family who would be attending, alongside the date and honours. Barbara Wright had tea with her niece that morning for breakfast. They were joined for their breakfast by a grey-haired Scotsman in his underpants according to a neighbour who saw him reading the newspaper in such a manner. The weird part was that he read the paper upside down. In Bannerman Road, Sarah Jane Smith and her two children, Luke and Sky, alongside her husband of seven years, Paul Morley. Tegan Jovanka sat alone, as she had been for a while since her second husband had died, the cantankerous bitch had had little interest in her first husband, Johnny's, father's funeral and had even less interest in his cousin's wedding anniversary. And could never go at the thought of the Doctor being there. The last time he had seen her he had cured inoperable brain cancer she had been experiencing, allegedly. She liked to dismiss him as a fantasy of the damage caused. The entire Chesterton family in their droves made their way to their cousin Polly's do, which was being held in a disused junkyard of all places for the afters, with the initial events being held in the Post Office Tower. In London, Brian Williams, who had just suffered the death of an unspecified family member named Anthony, known by none but himself to in actual fact be his grandson, got on his best suit and made his way for the Post Office Tower, having received an invitation from a very old friend.

Francine Jones and her children and ex-husband declined to attend, with the exception of her daughter, Martha and son-in-law, Mickey Smith. They were sent a gift basket for their troubles by a man they knew all too well, and despite their gratitude and love for him, hoped he never came back into their lives unless absolutely necessary. Gwen Cooper alongside her husband, Rhys Williams, and their children, eleven year old daughter Anwen Toshiko and eight year old son Owen Ianto Williams. Gwen wanted them to meet their uncle Jack's favourite Doctor. Captain Jack Harkness made his way there without them by the Torchwood van. Sending his granddaughter's regards to the Doctor, Wilfred Mott joined Harkness on said trip. Donna Noble and Shaun Temple, still millionaires from their lottery winnings they won on her wedding, passed off as her late father, Geoff's last gift to her, had never had children but Wilf hadn't seen them since they emigrated to God Knows Where. The Doctor had made the wrong decision in giving Donna that much money, if he had done it when she was with him, this sort of shite would not have been stirred. Alastair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart was basking it up with his new wife on the planet of Avalon since 2012, leading most to believe he had died with his wife Doris in a boating accident. Queen Mab was very gratifying to him, in their last few years, he and Doris had less in common thanks to his eternal youth. His daughter, Kate and grandson, Gordon attended, in his absence. Sergeant John Benton had passed in his sleep three weeks past but his husband, Captain Mike Yates made it his business to attend. They had only been married five years, but that was enough. Jo Grant made it her business to see the Doctor once more, in the accompaniment of her recently rekindled husband, Cliff Jones, returning from the Amazon especially for the party. Harry Sullivan's family sent their regards that he had died at the destruction of UNIT's New York base during the Dalek Occupation of 2009, in the event known as "the Stolen Earth."

Aged dignitary, Vislor Turlough, and his younger brother, Malkon, a man now married with several children and grandchildren, made it their business to attend all the way from their home world of Trion. Turlough had recently been elected President of Trion, so he decided to make his reunion with the Doctor as covert as possible in order to avoid an extreme security detail, Malkon was the only one informed, which forced Turlough to bring the boy along. Malkon had the gift of long youth form the fires of Sarn, so he was actually quite young looking after thirty six years back on Trion. Peri Brown couldn't attend; and the Doctor more than understood, he half-wanted her not to attend after all that had happened between them. He did miss her though, very much. Mel Bush had died of a brain tumour in 2010, which led the Doctor to invite Dorothy McShane instead, another regretful decision considering her loathing of him. He couldn't invite Hex, seeing as he hadn't met the Doctor yet in his own personal timeline, not for another year or so. Poor little Tommy, the Thomas Hector Schofield alive now had no idea what lay in store for him in the decade to come, but the Doctor and the Dorothy McShane here and now did. Grace Holloway probably wouldn't deign to see him at all, regardless the Doctor trudged on. The rest of his eighth incarnation's companions were either dead or in the future. Clara Oswald was invited and the Doctor was more than surprised to realise that she had accepted the invitation. He hoped for no dramas.

By the afternoon, the Post Office Tower in central London was abuzz with activity, the guest of honour, the Doctor was still preparing his face, some wondered whether that meant he was regenerating, but Barbara insisted it was just an excuse for the jitters. Eventually, the moment came when he arrived, all smiles and handshakes and greeted each and every one of them in turn, there were smiles in reply, mainly glares and nods of approval. In retaliation, he simply looked away in shame wanting nothing more than for Clara to never have come back for him on Trenzalore. That damnable girl, it should have been his grave. Now he was here having to let others forgive him. How could he let this happen! While there were smiles all he could feel was the daggers and the venom, piercing his insides as he walked up to the central floor to chat with Ben and Polly, the other important people here. He regretted doing this, but he remembered what his late wife, River Song, had said to him all those years ago fighting the Great Intelligence on Trenzalore. She told him he didn't like endings. He had said goodbye to himself in the bell tower on Trenzalore right before he went up to confront the Dalek saucers, now it was time to say goodbye to those who had sacrificed their hearts and souls to him as best as he could.

Polly was the first to make the speeches: "Ben and I are delighted to see so many old faces and new here, tonight. It takes me back to our wedding day, 19th July 2000. Yes, we were older than most, but love kept us together and we both knew it. We couldn't help it, even after we married others first we remained in touch so often. When Ben's wife left him and I left Jack, we decided it was best to give it another go, with the two people who mattered most to us, once upon a time. Of course, there were two other people in our lives who mattered alongside us. A father and a brother figure for each of us. As shoulder to cry on. Sadly, that brother figure died probably about 200 years ago at this stage. But our father figure was alive and well and sadly couldn't come to our wedding. That man's presence is now apparent, and that makes this day more special to me than a thousand wedding days. He and Ben, if Jamie were here that would make it far better. Instead, the Laird of McCrimmon, Angus McCrimmon V, has come in the stead of his long deceased great-great-great-great-great grandfather, James Robert McCrimmon. If the Doctor and Angus could please join me and Ben on stage, I think today could go down as one of the most joyous." The Doctor and Angus went up on stage and hugged Ben and Polly. The Doctor looked straight at Angus in the face and saw something which nearly made him cry. He had Jamie's face, a chequered look of naiveté, with just a hint of sincerity, passion, bravery and most of all indomitable spirit, that reminded him so much of his beloved Highlander friend. Angus was the first to speak "Me grandma always told me of Mad Jamie, my ancestor, the old family story of a senile old man who started believing the stories he done told his grand bairns. Mad Jamie's wife, my ancestor, Kirsty McLaren left him, after having more bairns than there are days in the week with him. He was so addled was Mad Jamie that he ran off with a travelling circus, telling everyone he was going back to his mysterious Doctor, for one last adventure. He was never seen again in the village. Now I know that Mad Jamie's stories were true, thanks to the kind Mr and Mrs Jackson, friends of my ancestor. And it is an honour, my good Doctor, to finally meet the man whose legend has been passed down throughout my family for two and a half centuries." The Doctor was astounded, he knew Jamie had regained his memories and re-joined him later on but this news boggled his mind to say the least. Jamie had left a legacy of the Doctor in his family. "So, on behalf of Jamie himself I would like to present the Doctor with honorary membership of our clan and this, something Jamie kept for you." In Angus' hand was an old recorder which the Doctor trembled to behold. He thought it was somewhere aboard the Tardis but no he had given it to Jamie in their last moments together. Friendship never died it seems.

"Thank you, Angus. It was pleasure to have known a man like Jamie, never a truer man born on this Earth than James Robert McCrimmon. The kind of salt of the earth 18th century man I haven't seen in so long." The Doctor then heard crying from the audience, he looked and saw a woman in her seventies reclining in a wheelchair, it was Victoria Waterfield. "Victoria Waterfield, or Harris, or whatever you call yourself. Get the fuck up here! I've missed ya, Vicky!" Victoria's granddaughter, Alexandra, wheeled her grandmother up to the Doctor. Upon reaching the stage, Victoria, a woman who certainly hadn't aged, as the Doctor could see it was very much physical injury which had ruined her stability at this point in her life, stood up and hugged him. "Angus, I'd like to introduce you to the woman Mad Jamie nearly gave his whole heart to, if it hadn't been for me." Angus was more dumbfounded at the Doctor's accent: "The stories never said you were Scottish, Doctor! And we McCrimmons wouldn't be ignoring that sort of detail now, if you know what I mean. So you say this lass swept Jamie off his feet. Well, the paintings of Kirsty McLaren look a fair bit like her." The Doctor looked at Victoria thinking the resemblance wasn't there, he always thought Jamie fancied her in an opposites attract sort of way, she was shy and timid where he was brave and strong. She did have Kirsty's eyes though, a Scotsman never misses the eyes.

Victoria was helped back down after introducing herself to Ben and Polly, then the Doctor began his speech. "Jamie McCrimmon was not the only one I've come here today to remember. My granddaughter, Susan, who sadly cannot be with us as she's 170 years in the future. Jeez, tough crowd. Ian Chesterton, the bravest and yet most sensible man to ever have the occupation of Science teacher. Ah, I see you liked that one then. Vicki Pallister, a woman who led Shakespeare to find inspiration in her story of love and woe in the Age of the Heroes themselves. Steven Taylor, a man who I apologise to from the bottom of my heart, but yet I am more than proud of. Zoe Heriot, mine and Jamie's best friend when no other could be there. Alastair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart, a man of vigour and sense. And also curmudgeonly militaristic at that. Harry Sullivan, all the K9s, Tegan Jovanka and Rose Tyler. And the dead, Katarina, Sara Kingdom, Oliver Harper, Melanie Bush, Liz Shaw, Romana, Leela, Adric, Nyssa, Brewster, Jamie, Flip…" Ben suddenly grabbed him by the shoulder and thrust him onto the stage floor. Being a former sailor, Ben knew what it was like to force a full grown man onto the ground "Right now, Doctor," his old friend said with great venom on his voice, "You're going to explain yourself this fucking instant, 'cuz I've had it up to here with this namedropping, mister. First, you mention Polly's dead granddaughter and now my missing niece. What fucking gives, man?" "Who are they?" the Doctor asked incredulously.

He could see now that Polly was in tears and Ben was trying his best to hold back breaking a few of the Doctor's teeth. "All I remember are the names, its only sparks like you guys that let me remember them, and I'm so old now you see." Polly wailed with agony "Where is she? Where is Rose? Where's Jackie?" The Doctor said "I don't know, but why on Earth would you want to find Jackie Tyler?" And with that Ben knocked three of his teeth out. "Jackie is Polly's daughter, you bell end. And Flip Jackson is my grand-niece that went missing ten years ago. Rose Tyler is her granddaughter." The Doctor was stunned "She never mentioned you, Polly, she said she had a gran once, but… And Ben, well, what can I say only, Flip never once hinted that you were related. I mean, I only found out your related to Barbara and Ian recently, guys, give me a fucking break." Ben just stood up, acted like nothing happened and gave the Doctor leave to continue speaking. The audience decided to follow suit. "Don't worry, we Time Lords are always teething you see, they'll grow back sooner or later." Before he continued he could just see that all of the eyes had become judgemental. What a social imbecile he had been. He had casually mentioned all of his friends who had died without thinking. Judgement bore down upon him like greenhouse gases upon the Earth's atmosphere. "Yes, well I guess this is it then. Alright, I am a fucking disgrace. I've let so many people down. Flip Jackson is dead and while we're at it you'll all be sooner or later. Me, I have to fucking go on, not fucking stopping! And it's all your fucking fault!" He pointed right into the audience at the just arrived Clara Oswald. Clara had a scowl on her face upon seeing the Doctor hadn't regenerated. She had been hoping he had regenerated into a nicer body after an agonising death. The universe is pretty bad at granting wishes. She looked worse for wear. A scar, that made her look a little tough, ran along her face but she was still as indistinguishably beautiful as ever. She was wearing a leather jacket and carrying a hand gun. The fishnets around her legs befitted the super heroine known only as Black Canary. The strangest object in her apparel though was easily, the necklace made of Dalekanium. She clearly had had her share of conquest out there, the Doctor could tell. Her past experience as Oswin Oswald meant she was very effective at taking them down. The Untempered Schism had made her into a whole person again back on Gallifrey, and now she was a shadow of her former self. But he still loved her just as much as he loved the old friend who had just removed three of his teeth. Clara continued to reply with a smirk as the Doctor continued with his tirade of abuse.

"I could have died, finally died after more than 2000 years of fucking living pointlessly. I lost Gallifrey, but then I thought I had it back, but it was a fucking poisoned chalice and I ended up having to defend one little fucking crack in time and space for more than 600 years. I was going to die, and do you know what Clara, that was okay! I could have died and it would have been over, all this shit. I've overstayed my welcome, all because you were so fucking head over heels like a teenage girl. Well, get this bitch, I never cared for you or even about you! You were just an anomaly I needed to save me. You don't equal any of them, any of them! Anyone here! I thought you were sweet and lovely but oh so impossible all the same! I've been married, Clara! I've had kids! I've had grandkids! You're a human woman in her twenties. I'm just a baby in his 2000s. And a baby's gotta do what a baby's gotta do. And that is to say…goodbye. All of you. It's time for the Doctor to hang up his coat. I'm retiring. My life has gone on so long and I've filled it with too many human beings. I want to die in peace, and put an end to my travels. From now on, I'm not showing the universe to anyone anymore, your people are gonna show me round the neighbourhood. Aw fuck, was I being a dick again!"

Everyone in the audience nodded in agreement. "Well, forgive a grumpy old man. Clara does, just look at that smirk. Underneath all that bitterness is a girl yearning for a hug. But accept this, I do love you just as much as the rest of these people. You're my family, each and every one of you. And so are your families. You hear me, I fucking love each and every one of you! A round of applause for you guys! Come on, now!"

Refreshments were served immediately afterwards, the Doctor went straight for Clara amid the gaggle. Clara took one look at him and said "I saved you there because you couldn't have died there. Imagine how much the universe would have lost. I hate your guts, but you're a good man in spite of it all. And I do love you, but I know, I just knew by you that you missed…someone. And I don't mean Amy or Rory or River, but someone long ago. I found out about Patience, but she wasn't your wife was she. She was some others? No, I meant your first wife. The woman you gave the universe to on a silver platter. The woman who has no equal, I can see by you." The Doctor sighed and replied by saying "Clara, I was married indeed many years ago, at home on Gallifrey. I was a father…" "I got it, I could tell from that little fit of yours."

"Sorry about that, again. But, my wife, I thought I finally found her. On Trenzalore. Just for a moment, her image. I mean we know she wasn't on Gallifrey, but I had a flicker that she was drawing near. That I'd find her finally. Clara, she was so kind. She'd love you just as much as I did. You know that. She would make this whole room shine."

"Is that all we are to you then? Us companions. Do we fill a hole in your heart left over by your dead spouse? Do we, Doctor? Or are we more than that."

"No, you guys are great. Just this…I've made this into the shitty ending of a decent story." After a while Clara took out her invitation and said "It says Totter's Lane on my one, why is the party here? It took me a while to get here, you know." "Oh, that's just the car park. I need to get there in a jiffy, sorry dear, must dash. Goodbye and safe travels."

Clara watched as he left with a hint of bitterness left on her tongue. The Doctor on the other hand, ignoring all those who had come to see him for a second chat, having dealt with most of them already, made a wild sprint for Totter's Lane. There were a few cars parked outside what was once a junkyard, one of them housed the Tardis. He moved over to hug the old girl and said "I'm going to miss you when I stay still. We won't be seeing as much of each other anymore, girlie. But hey, I can fix the chameleon circuit, get rid of this shape and make you into a sports car, eh? No, what am I saying. Fucking claptrap, don't mind me dear. I know dearie, I miss her too. But we can never find her can we. My dear sweet…"

"Are you going to cry all day about the past, or are you going to save the universe with me?" the Doctor turned round to see a bedraggled, slightly familiar figure, panting and out of breath standing before him. "Doctor, there's no time to talk. We need to get going before she finds me again, I barely got away the last time…" The Doctor still couldn't figure out who this man was or what he was talking about. Then he saw three bullets burst through the man's chest as a familiar van drove by. It was being driven by none other than Mickey Smith. Mickey got out and ran over to the dead man. He looked at the Doctor with a strong air of seriousness to him, then said "Doctor, please stay back from him that man is dangerous. Trust me friend. Please, for our sakes." The Doctor raised an eyebrow and said "Okay…Mickey? What gives with the dreadful out of character dialogue?"

The Doctor was on the ground feeling his throat being held by Mickey with great venom "I didn't want to have to do this to you, Doctor. But you leave me no choice. Time you joined me, in my paradise." The Doctor suddenly felt a familiar scent coming from Mickey's mouth "That perfume? Death!" "Haha. Oh its coming, Doctor! This time for real! The Darkness is back! So many things, but my people are back. My family will burn this universe when I'm rid of him. My sister sent you here to help me. So do it. Kill him. Kill the Master." The Doctor looked even more incredulous "The Master is dead a long time now. Rassilon himself must have killed him after we stopped him causing the End of Time." "I'm going to have to interrupt and answer the Doctor's queries for him, darling." Death turned round to see the man who had been shot releasing bright light from his body and saying "You're screwed now, biatch. This regeneration shouldn't even be happening. So, there's going to be some fireworks. Doctor, get the Tardis, ready. I'm going to need a Zero Room, if you've still got one. Oh, and a ride home at that."

The Doctor escaped and legged it into the Tardis, slamming the door shut as he heard the agonised scream of Mickey Smith as the car park was broken irreparably by the Master's regeneration. The Master was alive, how on Earth? Then the Doctor thought of what he had seen. Torvic. He had to tell him, tell him about everything. Maybe then he could save the Master from himself and Death at last. That level of trust would be forever. But no, the Master would more than likely hate him all the more. Then a man with a new face befitting that of the Hollywood actor Billy Bob Thornton in the TV adaptation of the Coen Brothers movie, Fargo (look it up, it's brilliant), entered the Tardis with a certain swagger. "Don't worry about Ricky, or whatever his name is, he'll wake up in five minutes purged of Death and the junkyard look always suited this place more, I think anyway. So, what do you think, Doc? I'm judging by the incredulous look on your face that you weren't expecting me to be alive, were you? Well, we'll have to skip the pleasantries for now. We've got a universe to save, and countless lives."

The Doctor started laughing "Are you kidding me, you want to save the universe? Are you sure you just don't want vengeance on Death." "Of course. But still I might get some karma points on this one. This new regeneration is hopelessly optimistic, compared to all the others." The Doctor gained his bearings and confronted the Master, "I'm not taking you fucking anywhere, Sonny Jim. Now go back to maiming puppies or whatever is you do best. I'm fucking retired! Find some other idiot with a conscience to be the fucking Alpha to your Omega, or Jekyll to your Hyde. Not me, I'm through with it Master."

The Master then lifted a big red button from his pockets "Before, I go could I get some new clothes?" "Yeah, whatever. Wait a minute, what the fuck is that?" The Master laughed before saying "Oh this. It's just the detonator for the Anti-Time bomb I planted underneath the Post Office Tower, which will detonate at whatever point in time and space that I push it, within the next hour. Even if I push this great, big button in the next universe to the left, your friends will be annihilated. If I ever press the button, it will happen." The Doctor leered at him and said "Still the same old amoral Master, I see. Very well, I'll oblige you. Looks like I have no choice, if there's one thing I can't do its let my friends die. Where are we going?"

"Why Doctor, I think we'll take the scenic route on this one. I'm looking for someplace…Where the skies are made of diamonds…"

**Extract from **_**"The Truths Behind the Myths of the Universe: A History"**_** by Professor River Song**

Many moons ago, there was a planet in the constellation of Kasterborous in the galaxy of Mutter's Spiral, known to humans as the Milky Way, the first species of the genome known as humanoid evolved. These people were warmongers, part of the Fledgling Empires, and they were known for their hyper-intelligent offspring. The children had the imagination to build a world first built on blood magic by the line of the Pythias, the progenitors of the well-known order of immortal celibates known only as the Sisterhood of Karn, Keepers of the Flame of Eternal Life. Some Gallifreyans rejected the blood magic of the Pythia, but most did not. Children were considered the most creative on Gallifrey, even the infants. The Pythia longed for those children to grow up and become their most sacred of followers. Only one of them did, a man from the last universe recreated as a child, known only to history as the Other, due to his subordination in the history books to Rassilon and Omega. Children were the lifeblood of Gallifrey, and Rassilon despised this.

Telepathy was a gift at this point for the Gallifreyans, thought had replaced speech in social circles. The younger you were the more likely you were to be a latent and capable telepath. The crew included a four year old named Shonnzi as the Pilot of the first vessel through time, the Time Scaphe. Rassilon loathed their power and he wanted it for himself. When the Intuitive Revolution occurred on Gallifrey led by Rassilon and Preylix, the plumber known to history as Omega, the then Pythia was overthrown and Gallifrey was cursed with sterility to prevent the children from being born. Most Gallifreyans chose the Looms or inter species breeding to bring back the blessing of children, with Rassilon favouring the former over the latter for reproduction. The one thing he regretted was losing out on the chance to harvest their potential.

Gallifrey was ruled by the trinity of Rassilon Omega and the Other. Gallifrey had three great minds at its helm and when Omega discovered time travel, Rassilon betrayed him. Omega survived and became known as the explorer, Nigel Thornberry, to the dimensions he travelled to, until he ended up in the antimatter universe alone and trapped. The Other was caught up in the purges of Rassilon when it was uncovered that his son's wife was pregnant many years later, having been the biological father of Omega's children with his wife, Patience, and being Patience's second husband, upon Omega's death. The Other's wife and new born grandchild were saved from the Watch, Rassilon's equivalent of the Gestapo to these early Time Lords. For the importance of children, a lot of the history of Rassilon's rule as first President and Imperator. Rassilon was a fool, a tin pot tyrant and after many generations of oppression, when he could have broken the curse at any point, the Time Lords overthrew him and sealed him in the Dark Tower of the Death Zone, where he lived in perpetual death.

Modern technology allowed those not of the Great Houses of Gallifrey to have as many children as they pleased. The Great Houses were given conception quotas via the Looms regarding how many in each generation be born to a House. Of which all members were distant cousins of some form, or immediate family relations, most politicians discouraged same House marriages, but some purist Kithriarchs forbade inter-house marriage. The fabled Ordinal General Quences was the first Kithriarch of the House of Lungbarrow to end the cousin marriages. Regarding the hyper intelligent babies, they were the descendants of either the Time Scaphe Crew or the Other and Patience's children. The Finsters of Oakdown, the Pickles of Lungbarrow, the Devilles of Low Town, the McNultys of Lungbarrow, the Carmichaels of Blyledge among others. It has been said before that the mind of a child is very susceptible to Gallifrey, that the magic of the planet embraces the mind of a child. So much so that should even human children come to live on the planet then they would be altered into acting like the children of such families. An example of this would be the adopted daughter of the legendary Time Lord figure, Chaz Finster, known to the people of Earth as Marnal Gate. A child on Gallifrey could have any number of adventures, all they needed to do was reach out. Reptar was a figure from the myths of the universe who was considered a god to the Children of Gallifrey.

The Children of Time was the name the Daleks gave the youth of the universe touched by Gallifrey, and how many there have been. We are innumerate, not all of us were infants but our children have our talents. We explore, we uncover, we know. The Children of Time faced their greatest challenge almost immediately after 19th July 2020, during the Collapse of Reality, the End of Days and the Birth of the New Time Lord Empire. Spoilers…


	14. Do as the Gods Would Have You

**The Tardis, 2020**

The Doctor buried his head in his hands thinking of the day he killed Torvic. All those years ago, and the memories haunted him to this day. He couldn't even remember all of his own children's faces, but Torvic's head was there all bloodied and caved, engraved in his own head. Why did Time let him see? She claimed she had done it to help Death, but now the Doctor knew that Death was beyond help from what the Master had told him. Lucy Saxon was Death all along? Now the Doctor knew that the Master since the Time War was a much more independent and volatile force for evil, but he knew that the Master wanted to kill her, to cure his own insanity. The Doctor had fought renegade Time Lords, who were mainly driven by ambition or dreams, nothing more, nothing less. The Master, on the other hand, either wanted to rule or destroy, due to incredibly poor mental stability, a psychosis which he never understood. All these years he thought his old friend was just a natural born killer since Torvic's death, but he was the one all along. He had betrayed Chuckie, and created the Master. How could he live with himself? That boy who had once been so shy, so reluctant and ever so loyal was now, the Champion of Death, the Destroyer of Worlds, a murderer and a treacherous defiler of existence. Why had the Doctor never killed him when he had the chance? He killed Chuckie so willingly once upon a time, and now he couldn't. What did that make him? He could slaughter a friend, but show mercy to a monster. That made him some form of squeamish bully paradox it seemed.

Entering the console room was the Master, bedecked in a multi-coloured scarf, a leather jacket and brown hiking boots. He had a holster similar to what the Doctor wore at the time of the death of his eighth incarnation. He still had the same thick brown beard and dark eyes from his regeneration. The Master had been afraid of constantly changing appearance, considering his slow process of turning a human body into a host meant regeneration could go wrong at any moment. The Doctor would have judged him, but stopped himself upon realising that that could have been him had he not danced with Death in his mind that night. What was Death's plan though? And why did the Master need to go to Utopia? The Doctor looked into those serious, unflinching dark eyes his counterpart had: "Nice scarf? That's mine, isn't it?" "Yeah, you did have style back then, I was just a decaying corpse who looked like a walking turd, but I was vain even then. And envious." The Doctor and the Master laughed in unison at his newfound effeminacy: "Ha, those were the days weren't they Chuck?" The Master glared at him and said "You said my name, my oldest name. Why did you that?" He started to move close to the Doctor in quite a confrontational manner, "You'd flinch in terror if anyone said your name, especially since the war. Captain Pickles of the Suicide Squad, who led so many of our planet's young to their deaths against the Daleks, ring any bells?"

The Doctor stayed silent and the Master asked "Why the long face chum? You've become very glum these days, and it's not because of me. You were hugging your own Tardis about half an hour ago, what gives?" The Doctor merely replied by saying "I'm not going to fucking Utopia whether you want me to or not. If I could I'd be bringing you to Shada right now. Instead, we're just drifting. We'll both die here, unless some tractor beam picks us up. I've set the coordinates for Utopia but in real time, it'll be 100 trillion years of waiting for us." The Master laughed and said "So you want to know why I want to go there? You and your stunts, Doctor." The Doctor nodded which led the Master to reply "The Utopia Project never existed. There was a colony there, but it only gained the name Utopia after a few centuries of existence as the colony of Purveyance. Humans settled there around say the time they evacuated Earth because of the solar flares. You remember, the time they set up that Ark in Earth's orbit? The Nerva Beacon, was it? It was called Utopia because the planet was unnaturally fertile, economics was miraculous to say the least and the standard of living was the highest in the universe. They lived like gods. Those who lived like kings were the serfs. People gave an arm and a leg to emigrate there. Fools, all of them. Would it surprise you if I said the humans there outshone Gallifrey in their scientific endeavours? They created anti-entropy devices to withhold the death of creation itself. Well, you know our good friend, Death? Well, she felt a little bit deprived of her want. The planet would never die and the civilisation would last beyond the stars, and at least with the stars she had a guarantee regarding mortality. Famine, plague and pestilence ravaged the land. All their miracles turned inward and the people died or became cannibals. They sent out a warning signal which deterred travellers from ever going there. The signal was well known for billions of years as "Never, ever come here. The Jaded One has dominion here. If you want to live, there are other worlds. Not here, never here." Well, linguistics change over the years, Doctor. By the time those refugees were on Malcassairo all they could hear was noise. Life. Something the universe was devoid of then. Even a warning was hope to them. The blind fools."

"Is that a tinge of sympathy in your voice, I hear?" "Yes, a tinge. I admit it. And it could be more if we go there and kill Death. Yes, Doctor. I have reason to believe she is there, ruling over them. She'd have nowhere else to go with the devastation of all her temples on Gallifrey, this would be her only haven, come the end. And I'm going to kill her, Doctor. She is the only one with control over my sanity, and while I may be slightly sane now, it's the sanest I've been since Perfugium. And as long as she lives, I can't maintain it for very much longer." "How on Gallifrey, do you kill an Eternal?" "That's why, I set your Tardis coordinates for his monastery. We, my friend are going to see your old guru. The Hermit on Mount Cadon."

**Mount Cadon, Gallifrey**

The sleep of tranquillity. The entire forces of nature that imbued Gallifrey with all that the universe had to offer were at one. That herb in the latest human rocket had given him a lot of new sense. Peyote, he thought it was called and that potato juice liquid, poitin, was just as good. The last time he was on Earth with I.M. Foreman he had several of these liquids, one had caused him to regenerate. Moonshine, he recalled. These liquids and herbs showed him all the colours of the quantum spectrum. He loved it, it made him feel so less alone. It made him regret the fact that he had used up his regeneration cycle over the last few millions of years. Life was a precious thing, even to a recluse like him. He feared Death's sweet embrace, though he had escaped it before, at the hour of his passing it would be next to impossible. He had to prepare his mind for the moment when she claimed him, she had failed before. He knew to build up his bodily energies and meditate and fast constantly prior to the battle, even back then. He had no idea what to do now however, then someone came to him for penance.

"Please, dear Menti Celesti. Give me pardon for my brutalities which I commit in the name of the greater good, please forgive me for my sins against Life and my services to Death." The voice had a hint of congestion to it with more remorse than he had heard Tommy Pickles use all those years ago on the night Torvic was slain by him. He moved out of his trance and into the next room where the gods and their shrines were kept. There lay a young boy with red hair and freckles kneeling in devotion on a prayer mat before them. His wrists were slit and he proclaimed "When will you release me. When will I die?" The Hermit looked incredulous "You want to die, boy? How come?" The boy turned round and took a long dark look of malice at the Hermit, eyeing him up and down as if he was a mysteriously delicious looking slab of flesh.

"If I don't die, then I will never escape this bloodlust, I've been trapped in it for years now. I need help, I've killed so many. And then I figured it out. Death has chosen me for something much grander. I died once, and now I've led my best friend, who killed me once, to his own death or eternal life, as the puppet of some petty god who loves toys." The boy burst into tears as they washed away the blood from his wrists. The Hermit took one look at Chuckie and said "You're the Finster boy, I take it. Tommy Pickles' friend. What has become of you?" Chuckie told the Hermit everything that had happened to him in the last eight years since his claiming by Death. The Hermit knew it all too well. But all he cared about today was mortality.

"Boy, I have a question to ask you? Do you think immortality in any form has its merits?" Chuckie looked him in the face and said "Not for me, anyway. Best of luck to the rest of you idiots who think we're deserving of life in any way, shape or form." The Hermit laughed and said "I've battled champions of Death on many an occasion, and I've championed for Life against her. And I've seen callous men, I've seen idiotic men, I've seen craven schemers and I've seen absolute monsters fight on her behalf. Never in all my years have I seen a frightened little teenage boy as her puppet. Even those who grow up to be her champions have an innocence in their youth, not until violence comes do they accept her influence, or take the Danse Macabre. You my boy, have had all of your innocence stripped of you by force, not maturity. You are her toy, not her champion. What could possibly have made you like this? Ah, but of course, you have a revolution to lead, a just cause, that's just the start, militaristic valance. Soon you'll be murdering babies in the crib and leading thugs and rapists known as devils into battle with thugs and rapists masked as angels. You, boy, will be the mark of infamy. But just think about that, your life is worth nothing. I have goodness in me and death draws closer for me with each passing moment. You could live forever, with your full set of regenerations. Now, look into my eyes boy. You will obey me. You will obey me. Give your lives to me…"

"Man of the gods, my arse!" Chuckie exclaimed violently as he wrenched the Hermit's arm right side up. "I should have known that Life's Champion would be desperate to live forever. Well, I as Death's Champion intend to die. But I'm not dying anytime soon. I'm going to need resources and that's going to have to be all that stuff you didn't teach Tommy. I'm talking hypnosis, bodysnatching, how to kill in a fencing match… the works. You have a new student, now old man. I'll get you off world, to a place where your hypnotic powers can obtain new life for you, if you share the wealth of your knowledge with yours truly." The Hermit stood up and said "Very well, Finster. I'll give you all the knowledge you want as long as you take me to Earth in your father's Tardis. I helped design the Type 40, you know. Might take her for one last spin before my final retirement." Chuckie laughed gleefully at the prospect.

Chaz eventually gave Chuckie and the Hermit leave to take one trip to Earth for the old man's sake. While on Earth, the Hermit settled down with so many others and adopted the principles of Buddhism. He was a good soul but as he grew closer to death, nothing could phase him in murder or deceit, despite his modicum of pure piety and modesty.

**London, 1973**

Cho Je was a very excited little man. He had only just joined the monastery to see K'anpo Rinpoche and learn his teachings. He didn't know what it was like three years ago to become the man's understudy, but now he had been in all that time since and loving every second. He learned so much from what the K'anpo had to teach him but yet he still wanted to be closer. One could argue that there was a homoerotic infatuation with the old man on his part, though Cho Je was a dutiful monk, then and now… if you could say Cho Je still exists now.

One morning, he walked into the K'anpo's room. Rinpoche looked more than delighted to see his happy young friend and beamed on him with delight. "Come closer, Cho. I want to look at you. These frail eyes can barely see that eager smile anymore." Cho Je came closer to his master who looked so much older than he had the night before and was clearly fading. He opened his mouth to reveal a gaping black hole. Suddenly, Cho Je felt everything that was him leaving his master's body. Cho Je slowly started to filter out of his own body, screaming in agony as the K'anpo's intelligence self-asserted dominance over his person. This K'anpo had aspects of Cho Je, but none in comparison to the knowledgeable Time Lord who joined the boy inside his body. A year later, the K'anpo died and Cho Je became the new K'anpo. Cho Je has been in seclusion since an attack on the monastery in 2006. The only person who sees him is his understudy, a simpleton by the name of Tommy Butler.

**London, 2020**

Tommy Butler hadn't slept in fourteen years, out of fear for his now frail and wizened master who was nearly finished now. By the morning, or perhaps late in the night, Cho Je would be dead. But Tommy knew it wouldn't be the end, he felt a voice like Cho Je's in his head every night and day, it seemed to drown out his own mind indefinitely. Every night he dreamed of memories that were not his own, memories he could not comprehend, of a planet with two suns orbiting it, and women and men bedecked in power and regalia over these people, of the sky burning, of time vanishing and of black magic. A black magic which seemed so alien to the world but which this avatar knew all too well. It was the end for him and he knew it. Tommy Butler would be dead in the morning, not Cho Je. But then again was that even Cho Je in there. He could not be sure, all he knew from his dreams was that when your mind and memories are being tampered with, the future and the past become indistinct from one another, so he knew that tonight his master's murder would return along with his master's old friend. The Doctor was coming back. Tommy had missed that man so much.

He didn't even notice the Tardis materialising, it just seemed to land, without a noise, as if it had been drifting rather than heading straight for the destination. The doors opened and out came two faces Tommy had never seen before, but yet he could distinguish one from the other. One was a dark haired, bearded man and the other a white haired, shy man with a mouth Tommy had seen on many a sailor in the past. "Master, Doctor. Come to pay our respects have we." The Master scoffed and said "Butler, I thought I dealt with you fourteen years ago. You've gotten younger, and thinner, taller too. What gives?" "It is merely part of the grand plan for me in Nirvana, come with me you must see my master before he takes his final breath." The Doctor looked nervous, Tommy had barely looked at him but yet he knew him by sight. Tommy Butler would have recognised him regardless of facial differences he had such a gifted mind and he loved the Doctor so much that after nearly fifty years of not seeing one another, he might react.

The Master entered the K'anpo's bedroom and saw what looked like a centenarian baby lying on the bed. It reached out a tiny hand, the size of an acorn and said "Doctor, Chuckie, You have come." The Master smirked before saying "That, good K'anpo, is not my name." "Ah, but it will be soon. Chuckie Finster will rise from the grave soon for you, oh very soon. I have seen it in the flames. Ragnarok comes for the Menti Celesti, by the hands of the reluctant champions. The two people whose lives they damaged too much. I can see the Doctor lingering in spite, what is it about you my boy that you no longer embrace who you once were?" The Doctor had just entered the room and he looked Cho Je dead in the eyes and said "I had nothing to live for, each new life offers something different. I like to think the person who used my name died centuries ago. The Doctor persists in spite of this, whatever incarnation." Cho Je laughed before saying "Hmm, I'm conflicted here, Tommy. We need the Master alive to slay Death, and the Doctor has a new regenerative cycle. He's also remorseful and depressed. Seems to me like he's the prime candidate for my new understudy." The Doctor was stunned "And what is that supposed to mean, K'anpo? Don't think I don't know what you've been playing at, it took me a while but I finally copped on. Cho Je couldn't have been your average Watcher, he had a life. Cho Je had a family, he existed. He was a son. Just like Tommy Butler." The Doctor took one look at Tommy, whose eye colour seemed to have changed for some reason. "I've had more time with this one than I had with Cho Je, my friend. I got to perfect him a little in terms of physicality."

The Master laughed and said "Doctor, didn't you know he consumes life forces in order that he may live forever? He's been doing it since he came here. But don't worry, I won't let them take you. I need you, you're still my friend. Like he said, Chuckie's coming back, and Chuckie would never betray you." Cho Je laughed even louder before saying "Even though he framed you for murder? Even though he killed Torvic and sold you out to Death all those years ago? Yes, I'm jogging that fractured memory now, aren't I, Master?" The Master looked at the Doctor with sheer loathing as the Doctor started to mouth what he was about to say, before saying "I'm sorry, I was going to tell you, when you were better. I had to tell you again. It's been so long since we found out."

The Master grabbed the Doctor as Cho Je began to regenerate. "Yes, now Tommy. Fulfil your duty. Die!" Tommy bowed silently before vanishing into nothingness. Then, light burst forth from Cho Je as he suddenly took the form of Tommy, naked. The Master exclaimed "It's you!" "Oh, yes!" "You're naked!" Tommy laughed, well the Hermit laughed to be precise. "Tommy Butler is a part of me now, fourteen years being molly coddled by him can do a lot to you. You may go now, Master, take the Doctor's key and leave him with me. He will make a good understudy, once again." The Master pushed the Doctor to the floor before the Hermit's feet before pocketing the Tardis key. "I promised you a shot at immortality, have an indefinite one." The Hermit opened Tommy's mouth and proceeded to drain the life from the Doctor. "Ahhhh! Fuck me!" The Master looked back and saw his friend writhing in agony as the black hole that had been the Hermit's mouth started to consume his friend. "Gah! Chuckie, please!" The Master saw a revolver on the table. It was the Colt. After all these years, the Colt had wound up here. The Winchester Brothers must have brought it here quite a while ago. He took one look at the Colt and saw that it still had one bullet, one bullet capable of destroying the Hermit forever. Or he could use it on Death, it was his choice. "Screw it," he thought, instead he withdrew his laser screwdriver and proclaimed "Hey, monkey boy. I forgot how fun it was to make you my little monkey Pinocchio. Gipetto 'a gonna' be pulling the strings now!" One blast from the laser screwdriver pierced the face of the Hermit as he screamed in agony. The Doctor, escaping his wrath proceeded to grab a pen from the bedside locker and shove it into the Hermit's neck. The Hermit started to bleed out as the two men stood over him: "You cannot judge me. Like you, I only did as the Gods would have me do."

And with that final note, the Hermit at last bled to death, transforming into his original form. Beside his body lay the corpses of several long dead Buddhist monks, alongside Rinpoche, Cho Je and Tommy Butler's. All his former hosts seemed to file out before dying all of a sudden. The Doctor and the Master looked at one another and the Master said "Let's go into his library, he's bound to have something on how to kill gods there." The Doctor held him back saying "You don't care, about me, about Torvic, any of it? Why?" The Master merely replied with "It was her fault, not yours. Now we have the chance to kill her, and then we can move on. You got that? We'll talk about Torvic when this is all over."

They searched and searched the entire collection of books until dawn, they needed to leave before then in case the bodies were found by the monks or visitors staying here. The Master eventually found a passage from a Gallifreyan holy book, speaking of a prophecy "Death's last champion will rise from the ashes and bring her judgement down upon her and her family. Help will come from the Disgraced One, the one who abandoned his goddesses. Creation will quake in their wake, before burning." The Doctor knew he must be the Disgraced One, he had forsaken the Menti Celesti he had championed for in the past, first Death when he denied her with the Danse Macabre, then Time, after he chose Life at the end of his seventh incarnation, in order that he may atone for his amoral nature as Time's Champion and then finally he disgraced Life when he forsook her teachings during the Time War and elected to use the Moment. None of them suited him, for the only one of the Menti Celesti he would have served with gusto, died millions of years before his birth. "What else does it say?" "The duo will head to the place beyond time and save it from the new gods of time. It's very vague as to who they are or what they want or where we're going. But there's one thing that it's very definite about."

"And what would that be?"

"That we will have to kill them, each and every one of them to save the universe. That their existence will bring the end of days, unless we kill them when the universe sends us there. Oh, and one more thing, Doctor. It says that a great fire will be rekindled before the end."

"What does that mean?"

"I don't know, but at least these prophets finally said something that was fucking optimistic."

The two friends laughed for a few moments, hiding their dread beneath their smiles. The Doctor chuckled nervously before asking the Master.

"Why do you want to become normal again? Why do you want to kill Death and get back your sanity?"

"Because, I miss us. I miss the Rugrats."


	15. The Time of Loathing

**New Arcadia, 500 million**

Promises, so many promises. Why his sister stomached condescending to political grabs for power he'd never know. Allowing Romana a chance for a public debate would crush them, if only they had evidence of something from someone, they needed to know something about her, and quickly at that. Her impeachment all those years ago was controversial, but forgotten to this day. Some say the Doctor brought her down. That had she stayed in the Presidency she would have caused the Last Great War in Heaven to happen, considering the Doctor prevented that war from happening so long ago when the Edifice came to Gallifrey, but that was a story for another day. Mortimus had no desire to return to that war and those horrors, few people remembered it, except for him and the Rani, who were killed during it. They were resurrected for the Time War, but killed again at the Battle of the Howling. They had been soldiers in the Pickles Suicide Squad, he remembered. The Doctor had seemingly averted the Last Great War in Heaven before the Time Lords resurrected them for the Time War with the Daleks, they don't know how he did, but they reckoned it involved toppling Romana from power. They just needed to know why, and they had their answers from that little lickspittle, Narvin. They kept him in the cells close to their quarters and just last night some of their Draconian torturers said he had broken and would confess to them.

Mortimus entered the cells alongside Valyes, a Time Lord CIA agent who sided with whoever he pleased in these times of political turmoil, having turned against the people in favour of Pandora, during the Pandora Crisis with Romana and being a Morbius loyalist during his time at school with Mortimus. Phil Deville thought him frightfully loathsome, but Mortimus needed someone from the Celestial Intervention Agency at his beck and call, because they had something Mortimus wanted. "My sister cannot be present for the interrogation, Valyes. So Narvin will have to be questioned by you and I. He says he only answers to Time Lords." Valyes nodded, Phil thought Valyes didn't say much at school and now Mortimus thought a hot pincers to his tongue wouldn't be much of a handicap for him, would it? Valyes looked unnerved by the look of sadism on Mortimus' face, he backed away as Mortimus flinched to look at Narvin chained to a pole of electrical energy in the centre of a dark, blank corridor with a muzzle on his mouth. Valyes had ordered it to be installed, so "Madame Imperiatrix," cannot hear his screams. Mortimus was quite vexed at the prospect of his sister holding the same title as Morbius. He thought she should at least have a more honorific title like War Queen, but regardless he moved on.

Narvin looked up at Mortimus as Valyes removed his muzzle. "So, Narvin, tell me all about Romana." He replied after coughing up blood, several times "Her name is Romanadvoratrelundar of the House of Heartshaven, she is former Lady President of the High Council of Gallifrey. She once travelled with an individual known only to our people, as the Doctor." Narvin took one look at Phil before continuing "A man who never forgets how others have wronged him, Monk." Mortimus laughed remembering all those things he had done with the Daleks in the 22nd century. He regretted them that's for sure, but he knew that the Doctor would have done worse, should the greater good demand it. He had seen the man in action. "You are wasting time with this background info, we want dirt! You hear me, dirt?! Valyes!" Mortimus motioned with his right hand for Valyes to make a downward stroke, which Valyes did with a nearby lever connected to the pillar of electricity. Narvin screamed in sheer agony, now that his muzzle was removed. "You don't want me to have to disturb the Rani now, do you? Tell me more about Romana!"

Narvin breathed in deeply for a few seconds before replying "She was once…on her third incarnation." "Well, that's preposterous, boy, she's only on her second," Valyes smirked before Mortimus gave him a look and said "Shut up, you unimaginative little sado-masochist! How did she come by this regeneration, Narvin?" "She chose to regenerate after I left, I read about it in the accounts of…the Renegade…during his trials for war crimes during the Time War. In this timeline, she was known as the War Queen of the Nine Gallifreys, until she went too far and let the Doctor's Tardis be seized by the Faction Paradox. She died fighting them in the Capitol, so the Doctor destroyed Gallifrey. The timeline was fixed thanks to the timely intervention of the Matrix and the Doctor's defeat of the Vore with the aid of Marnal Gate. We never fought the Faction Paradox during the Last Great War in Heaven and we never will. They destroyed themselves, anything else is worthless to you."

Mortimus was intrigued "And what did the War Queen do?" "Burned cities, interfered in history, annihilated planets and brought Gallifrey to its end by inciting war with the Faction Paradox." Mortimus laughed and said "I remember the War but I don't remember her. In the version, I fought in they never killed her on Gallifrey. The War Queen was replaced by a War King, I believe, my sister was his lieutenant?" "How could you possible know that?" "I'm asking the questions here, boy, not you. Now, you run along and don't tell Romana of what you have told me." Narvin was released and sent back to Romana's camp on the other side of the settlement.

Later in the afternoon, Mortimus re-joined his sister in her chambers. She had an office there, with no bed, only a large desk with a chair and her Tardis parked in one corner. She appeared to have some Eragonese grunts preparing a throne for her on the other side of the vast chamber. "It's not done yet, brother, but when it is, oh, I truly shall be War Queen. Anyway, what did Narvin tell you?" "That Romana caused the Last Great War in Heaven in a timeline the Doctor destroyed." The Rani looked more than infuriated upon hearing that "Brother that is the best news I have heard in generations. Soon the people will rally to our side and the New Time Lord Empire can begin." Mortimus suddenly looked worried, he had forgotten to remind his sister that a failed coup had occurred on one of their colonies, but the victory for their forces was pyrrhic, sooner or later they'll lose their empire, unless they amass someone with a cause. No one on New Arcadia would be dedicated or fit for conquest here, let alone revenge on the Doctor. If only they had the passion, the drive, the ammunitions then they would do everything in their power. Even with the Moment, they still needed an army, it wasn't the Time War anymore, where their enemies would be too distracted to find them. He remembered the Deca, how dedicated they had been as well as their enemies. But their enemies were destroyed, the Cult of Morbius died long before the Time Lords. No one in this universe even considered the name of Morbius or his long extinct bloodline to matter anymore. All he wanted his sister to do was abandon her passions and journey the universe, side by side, just like their childhood had been. Back then though, the Doctor was their friend and so was the Master, and Kimi. She who had never been afraid, like his sister, to tell him when he was being an ass. Shame, in adulthood he was the level headed, practical one.

"What's wrong, bro? You seem a little on edge. Our victory over Romana is assured." "Oh, sister, I have no doubt of that, only our victories abroad…" "Are assured thanks to you and your brilliance. To think, how we used to argue." Mortimus laughed "We still do, Lillian." The Rani laughed and said "Run along now, Phillip, we have a debate to prepare for tomorrow." Mortimus left his sister's chambers with a look of despair on his face. Telling her the truth would break his heart, he was still getting reports that their governors were being beaten in public, riots were occurring in the colonies, nothing could stop it now. Their endeavour was all for nought. That night, Mortimus took a stroll down by the cliffs overlooking the Dead Sun of Skaro. How beautiful it looked, even post-supernova. The fact that this planet was habitable was an enigma to most, Mortimus knew it was because of the battles fought in the dead system during the Time War. Something must have triggered here that caused this place to harbour life, just he could not comprehend the actual catalyst itself.

Then he saw him, standing over on the other side of the cliff, and there was Irving Braxiatel staring at the sun, not stopping. "What on this rock are you doing, Brax? Looking for life of some form." Braxiatel just kept staring for a few moments before Mortimus came towards him. "Six days, fifteen hours eighteen minutes and fifty seconds ago, you came here. On the stroke of the seventh day…It doesn't matter. What did Narvin tell you?" Mortimus laughed and replied with "Oh, Irving, suspecting foul play for some reason, are we? I've known since your mother carried you, friend. I tried to take you back to the Looms. Why can't we reconcile, you can join forces with us. You know your brother has done our people a disservice…" "He did the right thing, he did the universe a favour, by destroying a planet of pure hate and avarice." "I can see you lefties just won't be swayed, very well have it your way and stick to your guns, just know your chance will be up if we see you stand beside Romana tomorrow."

Mortimus stalked away with anger at his old friend, until Brax called him back "Wait, Deville. I have something for you, I took it from the CIA archives at the Citadel years ago. I think you've been looking for it for a while now." He handed Mortimus a book on which could be read on the first page "_The Diaries of Howard Deville; Office Clerk for the Gallifreyan Public Sector: Civil Servant, Father and Husband."_ Mortimus looked a Braxiatel and said "Thank you, old friend. I'll try to convince my sister to show you mercy when we win tomorrow." And with that Mortimus left Irving Braxiatel to stare intently at the supernova for hours on end. That night, he sat in his chambers throughout the night reading his father's accounts of blood, betrayal and debauchery on Gallifrey.

"_I have to record everything the Imperator eats, shits, fucks and executes. The Imperator had two mothers brought before him today. One claimed that the living conditions of my old neighbourhood of Low Town were appalling to raise their children in. He sentenced them and their families to the ice mines for five generations. A man came in asking for clemency regarding the secret police's unlawful apprehension of his father, Morbius sent him to the temporal execution centre. We just sit and watch while he does all this, he even has people declare hate for Pandad and the purists. Pandad's face can be seen every day for the "Time of Loathing" in the offices, we have to throw anything at it. They may not be my politics but they're also my people's only hope, unless this Deca or the Voiceless Others pull through, which will be a bloodbath. I just hope I'm not murdered by them, they might want information or just because they think I'm a traitor. Who knows anymore?"_

Mortimus scoffed at his father's fears, Koschei would never have raised a finger against Howard Deville and no one ever would. Except for…Morbius. Mortimus still wished he had been the one to kill him, not the government, not the Doctor, not anyone. Just him and Lil. Ripping his brains out, piece by piece. The diary went on to speak of so many things, tortures, executions and all of Morbius' trademark actions. And then it came to the last page:

"_Phil and Lil, you've grown up so much. I'm glad the Imperator spared me this long so I could see you two become such fine young adults, seventeen what an age. Your mom will look after you, if she's still okay by tomorrow. I was told something today in work, that today was my last day and I was given a cyanide capsule. They had been spying on your mother. And they know about you two and the Deca. Tommy didn't say anything, I've been monitoring him since he came back from that awful dimension. All I know is that, you're both in grave danger unless you go into hiding. They said they'd spare you for now if I took it. It cancels out regeneration, unless detox is initiated and I'm not going to let that happen, for you. Don't seek vengeance, but stick with the Deca, for our people's sakes. And before I go, just do one thing, you'll probably never read this or hear this. They might have confiscated this by the time you get home. Just do one thing for me, though. Have a good life. Have a fantastic life, kids. Goodbye."_

His father knew he was going to die and Morbius had been toying with them throughout their whole teen years. How did he know? It must have been Vansell. If that little toad weren't dead, Phil would ring his neck. Or Magnus, someone. Someone he'd have to kill. Wait, he thought in a brief moment of genius. His father had asked him not to seek vengeance, did that apply to Morbius alone. Yes, it must do. Their father would want someone like the Doctor, a criminal like Morbius brought to justice. He then thought that if they read this letter, would he and his sister still be the kindly children they are today. He thought back to that day all those centuries ago. The day they came home from school for the Otherstide holidays, and they found them…

**The Capitol, Gallifrey**

Racing up the stairs, Phil and Lil could hear nothing. Their parents must have been out and about all day. All they cared about tonight was the protest rally outside the Citadel. They intended to find Tommy, he had been missing so long at this point. "Catch me if you can, Lillian. I'm a Dalek, haha." For such highly strung young people who had loved and lost their respective couple, they could never resist playing games. "Phil, remember to feed Extermopuss." Phil went into his bedroom and found the little thing had grown five inches since he last saw him but yet Phil could still fit him under his bed. Phil tickled his pet and nearly got bitten. He remembered when they had broken up with Maekar and Rojan, that night three years ago, how hurt he had felt then. But then so much more childish after that. He and Lil had caught Rojan in bed with a very drunk Tommy, who had been on the piss the night before after an argument with Kimi. They did end up having a threeway but screw it, they had shared partners back then. Now, they had sex lives but none as serious as their old one with Maekar and Rojan had been. Or with Tommy for the next three weeks after that.

Phil wondered what was wrong with Extermopuss, the squid like thing went into his parents' bedroom and Phil freaked out not wanting his parents to find his little pet dragging slime across the carpet. Then he saw her. His mother lay spread eagled on the bed with nothing only drool coming from her mouth. She looked at him with a dead expression and he could see a scar on her forehead. Lobotomy, a staple of the current times under Morbius. And with that Phil called his sister in, but she didn't come. For inside their father's office, was a man with a calculator having choked on his own blood. He was dead and Betty was a vegetable. There was nothing left for them now. Chaz came up and saw everything: "Oh, by Rassilon. Not this! Not now! Oh, kids call an ambulance for your mom and the…the pathologist for your dad. Guys, I'm so sorry." Phil and Lil merely hugged Chaz but they did not cry, for all they could feel was hatred, sheer unadulterated hatred for the Imperator now. Phil went into his dad's office to search for his diaries, but could not find them. Phil knew there was foul play here.

That night, they sat out at the Shobogan camp drinking with Chuckie. "I'm going to kill him, I'm going to gut the little fuck. Morbius will die for his crimes against our people. And for what he did to them." Phil put a reassuring hand on her shoulder which she decisively rebounded. "Oh, screw your sympathy, Phillip. And everyone else's! Now is not a time for sympathy. Now is a time for action. The first thing we've got to do, is save Tommy. Then, we're going to kill Morbius. But we can't do it without you, Chuckie. Please, let us join the Voiceless Others." Phil reacted with severity to that statement "Lillian, how can you possibly think that? We are not murderers!" "Who ever said we were, Phillip" she said looking at him with deep brown eyes which seemed to chill him to his bones. "We are avengers, enactors of retribution. We are a family scorned. A family utterly annihilated. They took everything away from us. Our freedom, our friends, our lovers, Tommy and now our parents."

"Lil, be reasonable…"

"That is not my name anymore! Lil Deville died with her father. I am nothing now. A name means nothing to me, from now on history shall know me….as the Rani. It's an Earth name for Queen. Seems to suit me, don't you think, Chuck?"

Chuckie merely glared at her and said "I abandoned my name for Koschei the Deathless so why not the Rani? To the Rani and her campaign of retribution, I say. And to her brother…who is?"

"Castrated like an earthen hermit. But we already know a hermit, and besides hermits don't follow anyone. No, he's a monk. A devoted servant with a habit for celibacy and not even a hint of passion in his bones."

Phil was hurt by that statement very deeply "But Lil…I mean, sis. Please, think this through. We'll be killing people here. I know Chuckie does it, but he has to in order to survive in that wilderness called the streets. He has a network of followers, and he's in touch with unknown forces. We are not."

Lil merely denied him another glance "You go and tell our mother then what has become of us. We're incapable of anything because we don't have ghosts working with us. Think for a second, Phil. This is not about capability, it is about vengeance. Do you hear me, Phillip? My darling little monk. I love you, bro, but I also loved our parents. Do you think if it had been us that Mom or Dad would have acted like this?" Phil didn't even dignify that with a response, he just sat down and drank his ale. He looked at the back of his hand, it had been Tommy's idea. The symbol for Omega who was his favourite historical Time Lord was on the back of his hand now. Lil had Alpha to denote her seniority. Chuckie's Gamma symbol was pretty bitching too. It had been Tommy's idea, they were the leading student body in the Deca, apart from Suzie. Everyone called him "Theta Sigma" so the whole concept was kind of to denote it as an actual symbol, and give the rest of them one. Tommy was always wanting to share, except in the glory. That was something he had grown to forget about, when it came to even redistribution, after Chuckie had distanced himself.

The days passed by, the weeks, the months. Still no sign of Tommy. More and more murders happened, this time with Phil and Lil being behind them. Phil looked after his mother after she was allowed to move back home. He stayed with her all day and went out to fight with Lil at night, when Betty was asleep. Eventually, one night just before school finished, he sat with her all night, talking at her. "Well, mom. Dad's gone, but you're here. You're still here. Do we even know what here is? Do we even know why the world makes any sense?" He started crying before telling her his story, he tended to do this sometimes.

"Mom, I killed a twelve year old boy last night, one of Morbius' follower's sons. He was only twelve and I hanged him from a rooftop. He was dead with no chance of regeneration in an hour. I watched as the life left his eyes and I drove a knife through his chest as soon as I saw that distinct yellow glow. I saw the blood and I thought it putrid…I thought it vile…Lil didn't think so. But yet, despite my feelings I thought it good. So, beautifully right. I did something for the greater good, no matter how vile. What else can I do Mom?! What else can I do? Sometimes, you have to kill people to save everything else. Sometimes, someone has to die so life can go on." Betty still had a blank expression on her face, with drool and feeding tubes as her accessories, she could hear him he knew that much, but apart from that there was nothing. Grabbing a pillow, Phil said "Goodbye, Mom. I'm really going to miss you."

He left her there, she didn't regenerate, since her body didn't even know she was dead. She lay there decaying for years, Phil eventually disposed of it just before he left Gallifrey. His Norman Bates maternal relationship was not there. Though dressing in her clothes when he was alone, he was not impartial to. Now, he was ready to fight. So he left home with Lil and never looked back.

**New Arcadia, 500 million**

The seventh day since the arrival of Mortimus and the Rani began on New Arcadia. Several men, women and children rose to head to the Public Forum. Regalia was adorned on both sides of the political spectrum to watch this debate begin. Representing their cause was the Rani, Mortimus and Valyes. On the side of their opposition was Romana, Narvin and Braxiatel, who still appeared fidgety and constantly staring at the sun burning up. Mortimus was quite taken aback by that look of dread in his eyes. There was something up and he knew it. His spies in the other camp told him that all Brax did was listen to some primitive communication device all night. His old friend needed help, and after the service he did for him last night, Mortimus was more than willing to give it to him when this was over. Romana and that snitch, Narvin, could rot for all he cared. The Public Forum was a large area of recreation where people gathered, basically like a town square. One side was occupied by those loyal to Romana and those who supported the recent coup d'état were standing with them. Braxiatel had been reinvested as High Chancellor, while Romana wore the Presidential robes and Narvin wore the Cardinal ones. The Rani wore a crown of Dalekanium whilst wielding the Staff of Rassilon, an ancient artefact of power on Gallifrey. Mortimus wore only his own clothes whilst Valyes wore his ridiculous CIA jumpsuit with the bat ears. He looked like a Cirque du Soleil reject, thought Mortimus, anything to kiss up is all he's capable of doing, that's why he was even there.

"My brothers and sisters of Gallifrey now comes the hour of your decision. Join with us and support your new government or join a world of pestilence and famine under President Romana," his sister bellowed in her opening statement. Romana rebutted with "Ah, yes, but what of I, and my successes in bringing Gallifrey together with the universe. My improvements to the standard of living in comparison to this tyrant, who has the arrogance to strut in here and make you think you will be her subjects rather than her conscripted soldiers. Lillian Deville, or the Rani as all of you know here, is capable of crimes upon her so-called "subjects." Ever hear of Lakertya, or Tetrapyiarbius? The species of both those worlds want her head. She is a warrior queen, nothing more. She will lead us to death and destruction whilst our heritage crumbles fighting in some vengeance war against the Daleks. No thank you, Madame."

"Ah, she speaks of what life was like under her on Gallifrey. But what of this place? What have you done for the people here, except lead them to dirt and death? And I'll have you know the Lakertyans and Tetraps were part of a greater scheme to save the universe. And, hypocrite, let us not speak of the War Queen of the Nine Gallifreys…" Romana had no idea what she meant, but Braxiatel and Narvin did. "Perhaps, we should end this now my lady. Surrender, they clearly know too much." Romana brushed this aside, as the Rani changed the topic. "And how on Earth do you care to explain your attachment to the Destroyer of our home world?" "The Doctor saved the universe…" "What's good for the universe is not important here and now, what is important is what is good for Gallifrey and the Time Lords? Which the Doctor's recent actions certainly weren't. This woman and her High Chancellor are on close personal terms with the destroyer of our home world. She was his travelling companion and he his younger brother. My people, I have no interest in waging war against the Daleks, only against the Doctor. And I'm sure that... you would all agree?" The people in the square began to stand accusingly at Romana, whilst Mortimus had phased out of the debate altogether, something was happening with the supernova. Producing his binoculars he had always kept as a monk, he could see a black hole at the centre of the supernova, reaching out. But this black hole was not any black hole, it was releasing something. Something familiar, something he hadn't seen since his death. As the debate raged on between his sister and Romana, a riot erupted between the supporters. Mortimus took one look at Braxiatel who had also seen it. Brax fell on his knees and began to cry. "It's finished. Not just us but time and space. Look to the stars! Look to the Howling!"

And then were was light, a bright light which pierced their sight and as soon as it was gone all they could see was a giant rip in the fabric of the space before them. And something was coming from within it. Something dark which no one could comprehend. A voice emanated from within for all to hear. All the voice said was "Listen to neither of these two, I offer you salvation and retribution, a new world, a new Gallifrey and a New Time Lord Empire, forged across the skies. And, most importantly, I promise you the Doctor's head."

It was a ship, a gigantic ship in the shape of a skull, not dissimilar to that of the Predator films, but with the Great Seal of Rassilon on its forehead. It was sided by a whole fleet of ships, all they had in common was serious looking damage. Their course broke planets and everything seemed to tremble before them. All Mortimus could feel was hope and dread as he locked hands with his sister, she did the same with Romana who in turn held onto Narvin's. Whilst Braxiatel raged at the sky, "We are doomed! Doctor, run! Just run!" New Arcadia was never heard of again in the history of the Earth, but there was another black hole opening, one from the remains of this world. One that was extending to a more familiar location in a more familiar time.

And on the planet Earth, the day was 19th July, 2020. The day that time ended for so many and the Doctor was nowhere to be seen...


	16. The Planet That Never Should Have Been

**The Tardis**

The console room was all abuzz with energy as he lay there in the Louis Quinze chair the Doctor had the tenacity to take from the home of Count Scarlioni in Paris, 1979. The Master dreamt of his time on Earth, with Nosferatu, how he had come one night and told him something, something about Eternity. Was it what he required if he was going to stop her? Eternity was knocking. He said something about the nectar. The nectar is key, or its substitute. He then dreamt of killing the Doctor for about ten minutes, beating him to a bloody pulp until he heard a woman's voice "Stop it, this is not you." He turned around and there she was, Aillia. The only woman he had ever loved and she had betrayed him all those years ago, on the day that the Master was born and Koschei was abandoned. Then she was his sister, with an unflinching expression on her face. Only disgust at the violence. It had been so long since either of them had seen her, would she even know it was the Doctor who was being beaten. Then came his mother, Melinda, who just hugged him before melting away. And then Kira, who told him it was alright and then all of a sudden her head began to melt and she was replaced by Miss Grant, that companion of the Doctor's he had once been so obsessed with. Then it was Susie Carmichael who just laughed before vomiting at the sight of the Doctor. Finally, it was the Rani leering at the body and saying "It should have been mine." Then all of these women surrounded him and the Doctor, who was bleeding out. Then as they pointed fingers of accusation at him, they all turned to skeletons. She came then, the only woman he had left, Death. "You weren't thinking of leaving me, were you dear. You, my big brave Master. I took them all from you, now you take the Doctor for me." He moved to strangle her but he couldn't he just crumpled and shoved the knife she placed in his hands into the Doctor's chest.

It was at this point that he woke up, he was in the console room of the Doctor's Tardis. And they were no longer drifting, he had convinced the Doctor of the urgent need to go to Utopia, and so he had decided to take them there. The trip was smooth enough, compared to the first time the Tardis had gone that far into the future. The Doctor was brushing the console readily with a yard brush, whilst reading Great Expectations "I've still got your dad's copy of this. Shame, I couldn't give it back to Marnal in the end." The Master laughed and asked "How did my father die, Doctor? I know you were there on Earth when he went?"

"The Vore got him in the end."

"Ah yes, those patsies that the Time Lords sent him after all those years ago," the Master laughed. "You never believed the Time Lords did you? When they said he tried to reveal your mother to the Purists for lynching? And your hybrid status?" The Doctor merely ignored the Master and continued dusting. Feeling pity for his friend, the Master said "You know, Doctor, I may not have very much love for the human race, but know this, my father did. And I loved my little sister, probably not as much as Aillia or Death, on a good day, but I would have done anything for her, you know that." The Doctor smiled and said "You never left her side did you. Not during her worst days. And where were the rest of us? Her friends? More. Doing god knows what, and we thought you were bad, but your goodness shone through in the end." The Doctor merely dismissed his comment and looked at the scanner. The year 99 trillion, 9 billion and 70 million was written and going further one year every split second or so. We're nearly there, give or take another ten minutes or so."

The Master chuckled again even more inanely than before "I buried Kira with him." The Doctor looked up and said "Kira…but she stayed on Gallifrey…in my children's care." The Master laughed and said "Yes, and she went as soon as she could. Back to Earth, to look for Chaz. When I was Harry Saxon, I found her and buried her. With dad. I saw the Marnal Gate grave and…knew. I'd met him before, when I was fighting you and the Brigadier and Miss Grant." The Doctor smiled and said "You fancied her. Out of all my companions, you always had a habit of capturing her and then threatening her." "She did have a lovely little innocence to her didn't she? Plus she was a fucking ride and a half?"

The two friends' laughter shook the console room. "Although mind you, Doctor, that savage friend of yours, the one who tried to get me with a Janis thorn. What happened to her?" "Oh, Leela. She married a Time Lord. Andred, a Chancellery guard, from the House of Redloom, had a child with him and everything." "At least I know I'm her type anyway," the Master sighed. The friendship, or bromance was rekindled that was for sure, so the Master couldn't exactly let a frown appear. Eventually, the Tardis ground to a halt and the Doctor gave the Master the most serious stare those disturbing eyes of his could give. "Come on, no point in us waiting here." The Master then timidly replied with "I'm actually kind of scared." The Doctor, putting his coat on and looking at the Master said "There really is hope for Chuckie after all. The closer we get to this place the more you come out."

The Master followed the Doctor out into what appeared to be, a tiny little farm devoid of crops only carcasses of animals and humans stacked one on top of the other. The Doctor proceeded to place a Tardis key around his and the Master's necks upon looking into the sky. There, flying above them were several Toclafane. Of course, the Doctor thought, this is their home world, so to speak. "It's a perception filter, come on we've got to go, before these boys get rowdy when they sense you." The lighting was clearly artificial considering there wasn't a star in the sky to be seen. The Doctor would say that this was beyond the year 100 trillion, but time had ceased to pass after that year, so it could have been a billion years' worth of development and still the Toclafane would be in the year 100 trillion. "This place is a hell hole, no wonder they wanted to leave for the 21st century. The fairy tales were true of course, just you were the progenitor," the Doctor said. The Master merely retorted in a calm and collected manner by saying "Like you and Zagreus." "Do these Toclafane have a leader?" "Yes, he controls the hive mind from the throne room. Unless he's been dethroned, which I doubt." This world was exactly as the Gallifreyan fairy stories of the Toclafane had described it, desolate and burnt to cinders, with no signs of life, where the last species in the universe evolved into monsters beyond redemption called Toclafane. Hang on a minute, the Doctor thought.

In front of them, he could see humans being herded into what looked like a warehouse by the Toclafane. They were all fat and pasty looking, and they all looked distinctly familiar. The Doctor noticed that they all looked exactly the same as the bunch from Malcassairo, the refugees he, Jack and Martha had helped with the rocket. The Master walked past them and said "Are you sure this is the right period, because the Toclafane were the only intelligent species who survived the end, or so the stories went?" The Doctor was dumbfounded, he instead remained unphased and proceeded with the Master to the grand palace on the horizon. They walked through a town of corpses populated by Toclafane. Inside the houses there were Toclafane, with guard humans lying on their porch. The Doctor figured that the humans were more than just pets and that that warehouse was no pound. Apart from the artificial sky lights, there was no light here and they could tell. He could see humans roaming the street scavenging for food which their masters might have left over. Strays, the Doctor assumed. They then reached the end of the street and reached a large flight of stairs which led upward to a magnificent building which they could see even from as far away as the farm they had parked the Tardis at. This was known as the Palace of the Emperors, for this place had been the seat of the Emperors of the Second Great and Bountiful Human Empire for 300 years. The Toclafane had clearly made it their breeding ground as there were thousands of them there being recreated, as if to form some sort of army.

Opening the doors, the Master snuck quietly up to the throne, the great hall was a shambles. All the crockery had been thrown and there was only artificial light. It reminded the Doctor of the Great Hall at Dragonsreach in Whiterun when he visited Jarl Balgruuf the Greater during the Dragon Wars, only darker and with less people habiting it. Sitting on the throne was a little boy, whose head was open with wires extending out of it into a central nervous system behind him. The hive mind of the Toclafane. The eyes of the child were unmoving, he reminded the Doctor so much of the Controller from the Game Station, it was eery. No life, just the mind of a child used as a computer to coordinate an unimaginative race. Something the Daleks and Cybermen would do with a human child. And now it was something the last humans had resorted to, it made him sick. And then the two beads of blue flickered to him and the Master. They stood still but the boy made no movement to summon the Toclafane and instead said "Blue box man and the seducer of my children, the False Master, what do you want with us this time, monster?" The Master put his hands to his chest and said "Oh well, you know, just popped bye to say, hi. How come you haven't released the hounds on us then?" The familiar little boy merely laughed and said, this time in a Scottish accent "You little vile thing will meet a much greater end at the abattoir. The blue box man will be spared, he made us fly. You on the other hand gave us empty promises and left us here." The Doctor knew that voice, a Scottish accent in this time period, there was only one person that age who could have that accent who made it to Utopia.

"Creet? Little Creet? You're the King of the Toclafane? No. But you were so brilliant. You were a little genius, my Martha really took a shine to you, so she did." "Silence, blue box man. Or I'll send you to be with your friend in the abattoir." "Well, I've got to stick with him and we came here to find a friend of his, so…Hold it for one fucking moment, did you just say abattoir?"

"My children need to feast. And they haven't tasted the flesh of a Time Lord yet. Why did you think we had that clone batch of humans outside? We live off their flesh."

The Doctor vomited before saying "You didn't tell me how sick they really were, did you? They're not just cannibals, like you made them, they fucking depend on the flesh." The Master, with a look of worry, tried to dissuade the Doctor from any fantasies of purity her had, "Oh, Doctor, human beings are all the same deep down, just like us they may act like good people or bad people, but inside all that matters to them are the base feelings like hunger and lust," the Master replied ashamedly. The Doctor, stupefied, still merely said "No, it's more than that, 'cuz whatever about waste material or eating to survive, they're tenderising humans and fattening them up in an abattoir. The flesh of humans must have an appeal to them somehow. A need, a want, an addiction. Like the Great Vampires' addiction to humanoid blood."

"Seize these questioning idiots, my children? I want them fattened up for our feast to celebrate the birth of the next universe, our new dominion as gods." "How the fuck can you be gods?" The Master answered that when Creet ignored him, "It's simple, Doctor. Like the Great Old Ones, they survived the end of creation, well then they deserve a shot at immortality and godhood, don't you think?" "Not these fucks, not ever! Grab your laser thingumabob there, Master! I'll get my timey-wimey detector." "What the fuck will that do?" "It goes ding when there's stuff, which means that you can follow me even with a perception filter." The Master shrugged his shoulders in acceptance as he readied his weapon.

The Master blasted the Toclafane that descended upon them with a laser screwdriver whilst the Doctor ran jumping over railings to get out of the Great Hall. He skirted down the banister on the long flight of stairs back down to the city. He then went straight for the abattoir. Five minutes later, the Master re-joined him, out of breath. "Never do that again. And you're a middle aged Scotsman, how the fuck do you go so fast?" "Because I didn't pick the body of a middle aged Hollywood actor, did I?" The Master raised his eyebrow in reluctant agreement as the Doctor soniced the back door open. The Doctor and the Master walked into a little corner of hell that day…

**The Valiant, the Year that Never Was**

Lying in his own nappy was not an experience the Doctor had had in over 1000 years, but yet the Master insisted he be like this. Francine Jones had to change him every day, and the Master had a little fantasy about some granddad he never had whom he used to abuse. Why hadn't he just stopped the Master when they were young all those years ago on Gallifrey? He could have convinced him to stick with him, but no the day he put that bullet in him when they were thirteen that had synched it. That and the day that Chaz had left Earth, the Doctor's wedding day and most of all, when Aillia, the girl of his dreams betrayed him aboard the Darkheart. The Master was dancing to Track One today, "I Don't Feel Like Dancin'," by the Scissor Sisters. When that played he used to pour chilli powder on the Doctor's scalp in the morning and down the back of his nappy. Thankfully, the Doctor kept his sonic screwdriver safe in the nappy, just like he had all those years ago, so the Master was afraid he might cause a delta wave.

That evening, the Master had tea and scones with the former Premier of China, Hu Jintao, who was quaking in his boots about his imminent execution. "Now, what I can't understand about you Chinese politicians, is you tried to curb your slave labour force." Jintao merely nodded the whole way through the dinner as the Doctor stared at his fearful face from his tent. "Now my friends, they have a lust for a little something, and I think you can fulfil that, with the many slaves your country provides. Say increase the breeding quota and every third person in a census from every village who is suitably healthy." Jintao was shocked but continued to listen to his master's proposal. The Master laughed and sent him away to make the speech to his people in China.

He turned to the Doctor and said "Computer, play Track Four," and then "Ich Will" by Rammstein began to play. "Ich will eure Fantasie," the Master sang as he placed the Doctor in a wheelchair and pushed him around across the bridge of the Valiant. "You know something, Doctor. I'm better than you." The Doctor looked at him and said "Conquest and might do not make you the better man." "No I don't mean that. Remember all those years ago when you gunned me down with that human artefact. You didn't even bat an eyelid as you pulled that trigger. I've let you live and I will for many generations to come, don't ever doubt that." "That's only because you want me to suffer, I did that because I wanted to stop you, you've already stopped me, or so you think."

The Master walked to one side and placed his head in his hands saying "You had convinced me to stop that day from making a huge mistake already, because I was willing to go the same distance you, in later life, went further than for the greater good. But still in your warped mind, I had to die. What does that make you? A hypocritical justiciar? An angry little god who masturbates over the actions of humanity that are like his own before smiting them?" "You know I did it for her," the Doctor said with bitterness, remembering the Master's sister for the first time since he last saw Rose. "Ha, of course I forgot about you two. Remember our big break up when I thought you and her were going out behind my back, when you were ten? I accepted you, for who you were then, but I don't accept the Doctor. He's been Champion for Time, he's been Champion for Life but do you know what he never was? He was never the man who loved her and gave so much for her? That man died when he took a grubby little Tardis and found that stethoscope and said he would be a doctor. That man's corpse is talking to me right now. The one man I hate most in the universe. The man who betrayed my family. The man who…" The Doctor merely shed a few silent tears before the Master, then said "I never gave up and you know that."

"You killed Gallifrey with the Moment didn't you? How many of your children were there, eh? How many of your grandchildren? Great-grandchildren? Great-great grandchildren?" All the Doctor could see in his old friend's eyes was hatred. "At least I didn't run away when the going got tough and become a human. They still had faith in me when I used the Moment. Some people celebrated the end to the Time War, any end." The Master shook his head in defiance "Did Tommy Jr's kids think that way?" And with that the Doctor was silent, utterly silent. His eldest son was the one person in his family he had shut out completely, as Davros would later say to him he would never look back out of shame. Well, this case was certainly one of those. "I want to show you something, Doctor. My children's masterpiece." The Master wheeled the Doctor into the depths of the Valiant, beyond where the Tardis lay, past several UNIT guards and Saxon cultists who knelt before him. "Where are we going?" "That would ruin the fun, now wouldn't it?" Then they came to a door known as "Little Shop of Toclafane." The Master opened it with a wave of his hand.

Inside were humans being roasted alive and served into what appeared to be tubes, feeding tubes for the Toclafane. "You're feeding them human flesh? Whatever for?" "It seems to sustain them, somehow? I can't tell whether it's a dependence or not? I've heard that when non-Time Lords travel through time, the blood of a human can become their sustenance, like with the Great Vampires." "No, it's something more sinister than that and you know it?" "Oh, of course it is, but why should I find out, Doctor?" the Master retorted whilst wheeling him out the other way.

That night, the Doctor slept in his little tent as he felt his bowels voiding themselves. He started toying with the Archangel Network a little in his mind. He wondered how Martha was doing. Especially, after escaping Japan. Poor girl. To alleviate himself of thoughts about Martha, he decided a trip down memory lane was in order. To a time when he felt happiness that life was come anew, like now with a second Time Lord alive, and horror and frustration at the thought of dealing with that fact. He went back to when he was sixteen, when he learned so much and began a trip into another world. He saw Morbius for the first time and began his journey into the depths of sheer madness and tomfoolery. He lost his family but in a way he gained something much more on that day.

**The Capitol, Gallifrey**

Walking through the streets of the Capitol on a Friday morning at the age of sixteen was a common occurrence for Tommy, though he didn't like being followed by his uncle Quences' present, a robot by the name of Badger. The thing was an animatronic device with little imagination who seemed to act as a butler for Tommy, but he had a certain fondness for the creature. It had been Quences' once at home. It was very early in the morning, when Tommy would begin his walk to the Academy to fuck about and steal shit. He was wearing a yellow t-shirt, like he used to always wear before he became a more pretentious pre-teen and blue jeans. He had not had a girlfriend for a while now, Kimi had left him after that incident with Chuckie and they had only really been friends since then. He was then walking through the streets when he saw someone being dragged through the streets by what looked to be Chancellery Guards. It must have been in retaliation to what had happened last week, Morbius had been shot at in public by the Voiceless Others inside a government office. That had to be the most idiotic thing they had done, now there was going to be a serious purge and they knew it. Tommy kept walking until he saw people running towards the steps of the Citadel and standing atop was a very frightened looking Howie Deville, reading aloud: "Esteemed Lord Imperator Morbius of the High Council of the Time Lords has decreed that these traitors to our planet, our way of life, must die on this day."

Tommy then saw Morbius, bedecked in ceremonial robes exiting the Citadel alongside his mistress, Tommy's cousin, Angelica. The weird part was that she was his niece, but Morbius was Imperator. So who would question his love life? Tommy knew Angelica of all people would sneak into that monster's bed if it meant a shot at power, and he had been right. In fact, rumours abounded the school that Angelica had even given him a child, she was eighteen now but still, she was related to him and she was Tommy's cousin. He felt more ashamed of this than his Uncle Drew's power marriage, his uncle he hardly saw thankfully, having no desire to know Morbius loyalists very intimately, with the exception of Azmael, who had taught him so much in these last few years, more than Borusa could. All Borusa had to teach him was how to revolt properly, by doing nothing whatsoever only have anti-Morbius sentiments. Tommy knew he had a gun in his pocket and he had such a desire to shoot down both Morbius and his cousin, here and now. Then he felt a hand on his shoulder and turned round to see Suzie Carmichael. "You know what you have to do here, Tommy. Stay still, watch. Soon, if Chuckie's right, we'll have a shot at stopping him. The dimensional vortex manipulator is nearly perfected. So, just watch." Tommy had to listen to Suzie, she who had been a mother figure and teacher to him as well as best friend since she was very young. Where Angelica had been his bullying cousin, Suzie had been the big sister he never had. He hugged Suzie with tears in his eyes, as soon as he saw who those who were about to be executed were.

Being dragged up onto the platform for execution beside Morbius and Angelica were Lou and Drew Pickles. Howard struggled to read aloud the next bit, Tommy knew not to blame him. "Louis Kalhern Pickles and Andrew Louis Pickles, you stand here accused of conspiracy against the Imperator. You, Lou Pickles, have been found guilty of supplying the Voiceless Others with weapons tech capable of annihilating the government from within. How do you plead?" "Guilty as charged, and proud of it." Tommy was shocked, his grandpa had been the supplier all along that Chuckie had to meet after school in the countryside for the past couple of years it seemed. Unless this was all a lie. "Drew Pickles, you stand here accused of selling information to enemy empires and resistance movements and for being a sworn member of the Purists. How do you plead?" "Not guilty. Please Morbius, spare me. Think of your sister, my wife." Lou took one look at his snivelling son and said "Man up, boy. Now's not the time for fear and cowering."

"Angelica, honey, please it's your daddy. Help me! Please, pumpkin!" "You didn't get me that Malibu Cynthia hovercraft this year, Daddy. I'm sorry, but I'm the one with the power, now." Lou leered at his granddaughter and said "Kinslayer." "We're not in Westeros now, Grandpa. Do you have any last words?"

Lou Pickles stood up and began to address the crowd. Tommy noticed how battered and bruised his grandfather looked, he clearly had a broken nose and he had clearly been forced through a regeneration as his once shallow good looking appearance had been restored to that of an old man. A traumatic regeneration can make a Time Lord an old man. Suddenly, Tommy was joined by Phil, Lil, Chuckie and Kimi who placed their hands on his shoulders. All of them were distressed to see Grandpa Lou about to face his death. Then his grandfather began to speak: "People of Gallifrey, bestill your beating hearts, and listen. I am a man who did sell weapons to the Voiceless Others, but only because I know Morbius will fall, and he knows it too. The Purists will seize power unless we do something about this. Some of us here, have aspects of other cultures in our lives, day in and day out. The Purists will rob us of that, if they succeed Morbius." Lou looked down to the crowd and saw Tommy standing there, with Kimi behind him. "I do it for the children of the stars who love Gallifrey, how will they suffer if those monsters take power. No, instead I see these youth movements as our only way forward to a new Gallifrey. My son here may not think so, but do not judge him. He is just as cowardly as the rest of you. I had the balls to stand up to the Imperator, not kowtow to him and send my child to his bed, like Drew here. All I ask, is that you all remember me. And, this is for you scout, goodbye and remember me with fondness." Tommy was in tears as his grandfather prepared for the staser to tear his insides apart. Then, it was Drew who was incinerated. Lou turned around in shock: "But…but…I was meant to go first." "Your crimes are far more severe than Drew's and Angelica and I think it would be a greater punishment to watch your son die before you, don't you, Mr Pickles?"

Lou merely bowed his head in silence as he was ripped apart by the same beam of energy which had ripped his son apart moments before. Tommy couldn't believe it, his grandfather and his uncle had just died before his eyes. They would soon be taking anything and everything from the family. They needed to act now. He turned to Chuckie and said "When will it be ready?" "A couple of weeks or so. I don't want Rallon and Millennia to be dying anytime soon. By the last Deca meeting of the year, the three of you should be gone in." "Will it hurt?" Tommy asked. "Probably," said Chuckie "though not as much as his games will, I'd say." "Good," Tommy replied with bitterness.

Tommy Pickles didn't go to school that day. He ran as fast as he could to the Cadonflood River, towards Mount Lung, where his old home of the House of Lungbarrow was located. He entered through the door and went to the common room, his distant cousin, Glospin was there comforting his parents, Stu and Didi, as they sat in armchairs made of oak. "They killed Grandpa and Uncle Drew, and you just sat here?" His parents looked up at him, and struggled to apologise but Tommy dismissed them with a flurry of his hand and said "You disgust me. Where's Quences? That fucker's got more blood on his hands than the rest of you." Glospin, his snivelling little pockmarked face all ablaze, looked up at Tommy and said "Your parents are not in the mood for your dramas boy, and neither is the Kithriarch." "Tommy, sit down and have a cup of tea," Didi said, smiling ruefully. She was holding some of her old English tea from her time as little Penelope Gate in her hands before him, in offering. Tommy smashed the cup to the ground and said "I don't want tea, I want Quences." "The Kithriarch will not be disturbed," said a deep voice from the other side of the room. It was Saldaamir, the blue skinned humanoid who had survived so much from Gallifrey's ancient past and had been a skivvy until Morbius had given him official citizenship. He and his family had lived as slaves under the more racially puritanical regimes. Now he was a businessman who made many dealings with the Doctor's parents. He had been a companion of his father's during his days as Ulysses the Explorer. The family had nothing to consider offensive about him. "He won't see me to negotiate my boys to come here and give the place a makeover, so he definitely won't be seeing you?"

"But Mr Saldaamir, Morbius has gone after our family and you don't expect Quences to declare support for the revolution." "Quences never will, boy, he's too politically savvy. He has Morbius' mistress for a great-grand-niece. You and Dill offer an alternative with your passion for the family, should the revolution occur. No wonder he thinks you should succeed him." Tommy merely stormed out of the room, and down the winding corridors of the House. He passed by all the many cousins of the House before finally coming to his great-grand-uncle's offices. Quences was sitting in a chair, his bookshelves surrounding him and a statue of the Other, Omega and Rassilon on either end of the office. His hair was even whiter than the last time he saw him and he was only 300 years into his latest regeneration. Tommy prayed that that was not his fate at that age, in any incarnation. He looked up to see Tommy and said "Ah Tommy, how are you? Would you like a seat?" Tommy walked up and punched Quences in the face with severity. "What kind of Kithriarch are you? You have spies in the Capitol, but yet you don't even know your nephew and grand-nephew have been executed." "Oh, I knew that all right. What do you take me for, boy?" Tommy was stunned. He couldn't speak at all, until Quences said "I informed on your grandfather, he would have ruined the family reputation you see. Our family have eggs in both baskets, and I can't afford to have someone like Lou in either camp. You and your brother and cousin, well you didn't inherit his passion, did you? Well, with one choice exception." Quences pointed at Tommy, who merely replied bitterly with "What will it take to get you to be honest and forthright with me and your beloved family?" "For you to abandon the Revolution, gain political high ground and when I die you will become the next Kithriarch and raise one of your brother Dill's descendants for the job. And don't think you can take a human bride like your father did. Now that your grandfather's gone I won't let hybrids like you and your brother continue to be produced. No, I'll arrange a marriage between Dill and some fine daughter of the Imperator's sooner or later. You can marry, but I wouldn't recommend it if you're going to be Kithriarch. I'm responsible for my 10th cousins five times removed running this place. I've got no time to have my own children."

To say that Tommy was livid at this moment would be an understatement, "You killed my grandfather and raised me to be a pawn of Death herself. I would rather murder you here and now and then burn this house to the ground than succeed you." "Ha, one day my dear boy, you will have no choice. When you graduate, and Morbius dies and his son with Angelica succeeds him, you'll be in the Imperatorial family then. You'll be like an uncle the child never had, being his only child of a mother's first cousin and all. Think of the power you will have. I hired Lou to give the guns to the Voiceless Others because I knew that Morbius and his wife's descendants would be wiped out, one by one until he chose his son by Angelica as his heir. Our family will truly rule with him as Emperor of the Time Lords and Dill as the President of the High Council. And you ruling the family, giving you authority over the President and possibly the Emperor, if he chooses Lungbarrow over Dvora, that is. You will join me then, Tommy. The power will be far too irresistible." Tommy felt his uncle's hand on his shoulder in a pervy way and brushed it aside "I have no interest in power or this family." He saw a knife on Quences' desk, it was used for removing brands of those who disgraced the family. He thought of shoving it into his great-grand-uncle's neck, but then a better idea came to him.

Grabbing the knife from the desk Tommy brandished it before his upper left arm. There was a number there denoting "970.44" showing he was of the 970th generation of the House of Lungbarrow and the 44th cousin of that generation. The knife burnt right through his skin as he felt the sheer agony course through his veins. Quences screamed "Boy, don't be foolish." Then the mark was singed into nothing as Tommy collapsed to the ground from the pain. "I will never be like you, you filthy old pervert." Tommy then spat in the eye of Quences before passing out. He woke up by the Cadonflood River with its waters running beside him as if mocking him with their perfect sounds. He then saw his paraphernalia, any clothes or items he had left behind at the House were beside him. The stars in the night sky illuminated the House of Lungbarrow before him. He looked at it directly before spitting. A few minutes later, he saw Saldaamir leaving, who then offered him a lift back to the Capitol.

"I see your distress boy, but these times are hard and you must accept that your family cannot always be there for you. Even at a time like this. I lost my family years ago to Purists, I owe my life to Morbius but not my freedom. So, I cannot help you or your gang, Theta Sigma." Tommy looked at the symbol on his hand. The volcanic energy from the knife had caused that to be burnt away into ink as well. He could have cared less, he would have it redone. The Deca were the only family he had now. Saldaamir dropped Tommy off outside the Java Lava, he then gave Tommy some of his credits and then dragged his stuff inside for him. When Saldaamir was gone, Tommy lugged his objects into the Tardis where he asked the machine to sort them out, to personalise the place a little, his new home for him alone. "This is for me only."

"You don't have to be alone. Not after today." Tommy turned round to see Kimi standing behind him, she had entered the Tardis. She was wearing a dressing gown and carrying a candle. Her purple hair was to one side on her shoulder and her large dark eyes could be seen to have a loving stare, as he saw a smile of genuine affection curl up on her face. She looked radiant to him in the candlelight. His hand was on the console as he suddenly received the shock of a lifetime, as if the Tardis could read his mind. Time Lords were largely asexual, whilst working class Gallifreyans, like Phil and Lil, as well as hybrids like him, were highly sexed. The Tardis had to get used to him. Kim then continued to talk as he hid his flinching, "I thought you might not come home, but I stayed up…because…because I need to tell you that…that Chuckie, Rallon and Millennia got it working, the dimensional vortex manipulator is working." Tommy smiled and said "So tonight may be the last time I see Gallifrey, at least under Morbius it definitely will be, either way." How foolish he was back then. "I don't want to lose you Tommy. Chuckie's lived a life of violence for nearly ten years now, but you, you're still smart. You're still forgiving. And you might die tomorrow." "You and I both know I owe this one to Chuckie. He died for me in so many ways, now I have to die for him. I cut my ties with my family today, so I have no one except my friends" he showed her his shoulder and the wound. "Oh by Rassilon, that must have hurt." "Of course it did. But I'll never regret a second of that pain, not now, not ever."

Kimi put her hand on where the mark had been, but he didn't flinch he just said "I've missed this. You and me together. Side by side. And I'll miss it even more when I'm a doll for all eternity." Kimi started to cry "I love you." "I know, and I you, Kimi-cha. But at least we'll always have the Tardis." They both laughed at that little jape of his, reminding each other of all the Earth movies they had seen, Casablanca had been one of them. "Well frankly my dear, I don't give a damn," Kimi replied. "I thought we hated that one." "Yep, we sure did." Their laughter and pop culture references continued for the next half an hour or so. The Tardis suddenly started playing Barry White after that. "I hate this cheesy shit," they both said in unison. "Here, how about I get her to play something a little more dance worthy" and so he hit the console pillar and Glenn Miller's "Moonlight Serenade" began to play. They began to dance but Tommy was incapable of stopping his two left feet. "God, you're terrible." Tommy was a little miffed at this, so he nodded at the Tardis as if to say, change that fucking tune now. Then "In the Mood" by Glenn Miller came on and the dancing lasted all night.

After a while, they sat down on some nearby chairs with a table which used to be in the Tardis until the Doctor's sixth incarnation. Tommy made a banana daiquiri for Kimi that night. "You know, Tommy. I've said it before and I'll say it again, I am gonna fucking miss you." "And I you, Kimi. Remember Reptar Land, my first trip to Earth. When we met, and oh we saved the day together. I could get used to that, saving the day with someone I love. Or a friend. Love and friendship, they're the two best things in the whole fucking universe. Not as dear to me as you are, Kimi-cha." And then there was no stopping them. She kissed him first and then he reciprocated. "I've missed this." "Well, you won't have missed this." Tommy looked confused and then he saw her dressing gown fall off. "Oh, Kimi, don't be stupid." "This is the last time, I'm going to see you. And I'm tired of all this corny shit. So I'm going to fuck your brains out whether you like it or not. Now come here and take me."

Tommy took his clothes off as well, as the horny fanfic readers continued to read whilst the less discreet ones went to the next paragraph in disgust, due to their sexual frustration. They're sixteen, which in a lot of countries is considered a suitable age for consensual sexual intercourse. The passion went on for hours, well into the night. Tommy pressed himself inside her with immense passion. They weren't going to make this seem like it was love, even though there was definitely romance there, it was simply pure unadulterated lust for one another which they had never quite requited. Kimi dug her nails into his back and incised a large cut into her lover's back. He felt the pain and screamed with delight. Asserting himself, Tommy picked her legs up and placed the backs of her knees on his shoulders in what is known on Earth as the wheelbarrow position. "Harder! Now! Yes! More!" Kimi screamed so loud he thought the whole café would wake up, if the Tardis hadn't kept the doors shut. She reached her head up and bit his nipple with much gusto until she drew blood. He was just fucking her, but for some reason she just wanted to inflict pain. Anything else that happened that night was far too sexy for anyone to comprehend and as Tommy would discover six years later had resulted in the conception of his son, Tommy Pickles Jr., named supposedly after his posthumous father.

They lay on the floor of the console room afterwards. They were both sweating and held each other's bodies close to one another, probably because they're horny idiots. The Tardis had to turn the air conditioning on because they wouldn't stop sweating on one another. "I love you Tommy, so much." "And I you, Kimi." "Your grandpa was a good man, Tommy. He always had a kind word to say. And he loved you just as much as the rest of us did. Let's just hope that tomorrow you come back…with the Toymaker and his armies in tow." Tommy kissed her passionately before saying "Trust me I will, now get some sleep, we've got a long day ahead of us tomorrow."

Tommy got up early that morning and found a coat, a brown one hanging on a nearby coat hanger, he placed it around Kimi, kissed her and then headed out after getting his clothes back on. He walked out of the café to the slums of Gallifrey. There he saw Chuckie and others in tow. The Voiceless Others struck him as a bunch of weirdos in tights, wearing masks befitting that robot from the cover of that Queen album, "News of the World." Chuckie on the other hand was not afraid to show his face. From around the corner came the effervescent Magnus, a handsome, dark haired fellow whom Tommy had always thought was bi, but he never seemed to express any interest in Time Ladies, preferring all-male groups, of boys in uniform. He like to call himself the War Chief when he was in the element, so they had named him Revolutionary War Chief, despite his lack of control over any of their militias. Next came their chief technician, Vansell, a double agent, like Tommy, in the Morbius Loyalists. A schweinhund if ever there was one. He was short and always looked like he was hiding something, he like to sing and dance a lot though when he was around friends and speak French as well. "So Tommy," Magnus said putting his hand on Tommy's shoulder in as familiar a way as Quences could sometimes "Good luck in getting the Crystal Guardian to join our cause, to be honest though we'd have better luck with the Black one. I'll see you around Pickles." He said this as he walked off giving Tommy a wink. Vansell came up and shook his hand saying "Au revoir, Tommy. I hope we meet again someday. Or as Edith Piaf would say Des nuits d'amour à plus finir." "Ha, bonjour," Tommy said trying to break out of Vansell's grip. Chuckie walked up to him. He had donned some nondescript dark clothing for the occasion. "Rallon and Millennia will be here any moment. And I assure you it will be at any moment, together." Tommy laughed at that. It was good to know those two would be with him. They were two of his friends who could call a spade a spade. Millennia was a very bright girl, despite coming from a House of vapid, shallow people. Sometimes he thought his cousin Angelica, being a daughter of his House of Lungbarrow had been swapped with Millennia at birth. Rallon was a practical level headed type who had gotten Tommy out of a few scrapes in the past.

The couple arrived wearing eccentric outfits, Rallon had a scarf and a bow tie, which he insisted was cool whilst Tommy tittered. Millennia was wearing a very odd choice of celery on her clothing, claiming it would pick up deadly gases. Chuckie told them to shut up and asked Vansell to turn on the Dimensional Vortex Manipulator. They entered a nearby warehouse, wherein lay a large machine with a gaping hole within it. Vansell flipped a few switches on the wall whilst Magnus pressed one cable of electricity into another. Such primitive energy sources for such a complicated machine. A Tardis would get them there but not with ease. It would have to be taken there by the Toymaker himself, they couldn't just go there by themselves that would be preposterous. The Manipulator opened and what looked like the Untempered Schism appeared. "I'm not throwing myself into the Time Vortex, I've seen what that does to people." "Last one there's a rotten egg," Millennia said throwing herself into the Manipulator taking a startled Rallon with her. Tommy just stood there and laughed before turning to Chuckie. "So Chuck, this is clearly safe, I didn't see them falling to their deaths." "There will be a moment of sheer agony and if you don't stand still you might displace something or break your neck." Smiling, Tommy went towards the vortex manipulator and reached out his hand and then turned to Chuckie and said "I'll miss you bro. You always were my best friend." Chuckie didn't even flinch. Tommy felt his hand being consumed and then he said "Sorry for shooting you. Oh, and one more thing, tell your sister I love her with all my heart." As he vanished, Tommy could see a look of pure remorse on Chuckie's face. It was obvious Rallon and Millennia were just expendables, but even Tommy knew this was a clever trap. They weren't going to negotiate with the Toymaker. No, they were being given as peace offerings to him.

**Utopia, 100 trillion**

Entering the factory, the Doctor and the Master could only see machines not entirely dissimilar to what the Cybermen used on Pete's World. But that technology was unique, like the earpod design, to that universe. The Doctor thought there must be a leakage of universes at this exact point in space and time, which wasn't unprecedented considering it was the end of this universe, there was bound to be leakages, and survivors like the Toclafane would be bound to exploit it. "This place is not very different to my Little Shop of Toclafane back on the Valiant, is it? I thought they just ate humans because they had no distinction but no, they've been breeding them, because they depend on their blood." "But what could make anyone dependent on blood?" The Master then heard Nosferatu's voice in his head, beckoning him onward. "Doctor, we need to keep going." "Why?" The Master looked at him and said in a monotone "Our way of stopping Death lies ahead."

The Doctor and the Master snuck past two Toclafane guards who were talking shop "So is your litter of humans acting up as well, Fred?" "Oh yes, Jeremy, bunch of pests, one of them bit one of my young, I wasn't too happy about that?" The Doctor found a door on which he used the sonic screwdriver to open. "You do that with everything?" "Honestly, you think I'm repetitive at that, I feel like my whole life has been spent running down corridors." The Master said "And I feel like I've been chasing you or sending someone after you down them all my life." "Spooky, eh. It's almost like some pervert with a keyboard is controlling our lives." The two sleuths made their way hastily through the door and then they saw the point of leakage.

"A Dimensional Vortex Manipulator, here." "I was wondering why I had that flashback." "What flashback, Doctor? Have you been getting them as well?" "Let's not waste time breaking the fourth wall and just save the day." Then a woman's voice could be heard saying "There will be no days being saved here, Doctor. Considering days and nights have come to an end at this point in time." Then Clara Oswald, looking as sexy as she had before the fighting on Gallifrey, with a really nice mini-skirt and a childish smile, appeared. "Time, didn't think you'd be alive at this point. The only aspects I can see remaining in this period are; Death, Pain and Life." "The presence of your Tardis and the slow but sure ageing of the humans here as well as yourselves give me way." The Doctor sized up Clara with his serious Scottish eyes "Why do you still look like Clara did once?" "Well, you must admit Doctor, she is one sexy mortal. You do pick them well, don't you? Plus, taunting you helps."

"Why are you here anyway, and where is your fellow Eternal, Death?" the Master demanded of her, withdrawing the Colt, "I need to settle some personal business with her." "Safely hiding in the core of Utopia in the next dimension to the right, you can't miss it." Time gesticulated with gentle ease at the Manipulator. "You're not putting me through another one of those fucking things, Master!" the Doctor shouted in terror. "What happened to your sense of adventure, Doc?"

"Adventure and curiosity involve discovering new things for better or for worse, with the hope of it being better, not reliving past fucking traumas."

The Master shrugged it off and ran for the Manipulator but Time turned it off with her mind. "What the fuck did you do that for?" "If you go in there myself and my pantheon will die." "Why are you here anyway? How are you even alive, there's no universe out there? Death should be the only one," the Doctor said to Time whilst intimidating her with that insane stare. "If I told you, Doctor, I'd have to kill you," she said as Clara's eye colour began to flicker in Time's eyes. "I can see your form is breaking the more energy you use, you're dying, Time. The universe is dying and it's taking you with it, whether you like it or not. No matter how hard you try, you cannot escape…the end. Ah, of course, now I know why they're here."

"What is it, Doc? I don't want to be missing Wapner," the Master said imitating Dustin Hoffman. "Oh, a pop culture reference, how original. It's this place, it's their safe haven, man. Can't you see it? Its Noah's fucking Ark. The Eternals, well at least the Menti Celesti, are using this place as an ark to escape the end of the universe. Hope and Faith must have died when the survivors lost, well, hope and faith. But Death, Life, Pain and slightly Time persist in spite of it all. They will be the pioneers of the next universe, unless we stop them. Imagine that a whole universe modelled by Eternals, it'll be the most boring thing ever created. You selfish monsters, what gives you the right to be the Gods of this universe?" He turned to point in accusation at Time but she had vanished. "Well, where did she go? Oh, fuck." Several Toclafane were advancing on them one by one. "Blue Box Man and the False Master have come for their punishment." "Ooh, I want to gut the False Master." "Right Master, we're the last two Time Lords in existence at the end of the universe, but we must remember that our people have a sacred urge when it comes to being a renegade. In a sense, a Time Lord's Gotta Do, what a Time Lord's Gotta Do." The Master looking terrified as they continued to back away from the Toclafane. "And what would that be, because I'm running out of ideas here." The Doctor grabbed the Master's hand, looked him in the eye and said "Run." And then with a flash of piercing bright light and intense pain they flung themselves into the Dimensional Vortex Manipulator.


	17. Ragnarok

**The Six-Fold Ream, Beyond Time and Space**

As several Toclafane were ripped apart in a split second their spheres bursting apart as they flew through the active Manipulator, their whole bodies ceased to exist. Their matter could not support the burst of energy, nothing could as travelling through dimensions could tear apart anything, but never permanently if you were organic. It could dismember you if you didn't try hard enough.

"Ah, that's worse than a Time Vortex Manipulator any day," one disembodied voice said to the other. "How do you think I felt, I shat myself on landing the first time?" the other one jibed in. "Props to you, Doc, but where are you." "Well, it's highly likely we're both dead. Oh, well I was giving it up anyway." "Well, I just came back, and I ain't leaving anytime soon, so why don't you fucking do something?" Grunting could be heard as the disembodied voice known as the Doctor said "Right just slide to the right, slide to the left, take it back now y'all…" "You're fucking hilarious, Doc." "No, I'm serious this Manipulator has been coordinated to the Cha-Cha Slide, look." And then the Doctor was there saying "Criss-cross! Criss-cross!" And then the Master was there upside down and collapsing to the ground. "You never did have my dancing moves, did you?" The Master picked himself up and they saw where they were.

It seemed and sounded a little like the factory in atmospheric terms only there was a line of dark stone walkways heading from each direction, six of them at least, which all seemed to converge at the centre where a giant pillar with wooden forbidding doors could be seen. Below them was only darkness, the dimension was clearly in its death throes. "Well, I think we know where Death must be." The Doctor pointed at a giant skull with a jade crystal in its forehead above one of the many doors on the pillar. "Right in front of us then, Doc." "After you, my dear. Ladies first." "With pleasure, Doctor, I've been waiting for this day for so long. It seems every dog does have his day…" "And today you're the big brave dog." The Master smiled and said "Do you wonder are there any more of us out there? Is Suzie with them? She's one of our few friends who didn't follow a dark path like we did, at least not as willingly as we did." The Doctor had a distinctive frown as he patted the Master on the shoulder and said "Don't spoil your big day now, thinking about everyone we lost. Though…hang on…why in the universe would you be thinking of Suzie now? It's been centuries since we last saw her." "You said big brave dog." "I think it's something more than that, come on, we'll figure it out along the way."

The Master ran straight for the door only to be stopped by something clearly invisible "Get away from me! You're dead! You died on the Darkheart! I made sure of it." The Doctor couldn't see who the Master was talking to but judging by what he was saying it was Aillia, a spy from the Celestial Intervention Agency who had followed him on the day he left Gallifrey. She had posed as his companion, a human girl from the 28th century, so she could infiltrate his life and gain his trust. He destroyed a planet to bring her back from the grave, the only true love he ever had, even as Koschei. She had turned up alive in a new body and he knew she was a Time Lord. She lived but died when the Master infiltrated Gallifrey to assassinate the President during the Doctor's fourth incarnation. She had been one of his pawn, Goth's many victims, but the Doctor could have cared less for the deceitful bitch. She was the woman who created the Master as far as he could see, more so than Death, much more so. The Master saw her image before him, bleeding from a large staser wound to her head, clearly the punishment Goth had dealt her, and he knew the marks were what was left from her torture by him. She appeared to have been drowned, Goth had done so much to bring her to her final regeneration. For a man who has been passed off in Gallifrey's history books as a political opportunist, the Master knew his true side, a sheer sadist. He was actually impressed with how far Goth could go, and his penchant for drowning people.

Aillia then threw herself from the balcony as if by choice, but before the Master could follow her the Doctor grabbed him by the collar then proceeded to smack him across the face in frustration over what had just happened. "You idiot, it must be Death or someone, but they're playing with your mind. She's had a lot of time since the 21st century to rebuild her power and you know that." "But she hasn't Doctor I used my regenerative energies to purge her from Mickey Smith, not cripple her. She'd have to come back here. She should still be weak now, if I gave her the right amount that is. She wouldn't have the capacity to do this to us. She lacks a Champion for one." The Doctor looked worried before saying "She still has mind powers beyond ours, so until we get through that door focus on no face but my own, because the rest are not real, no matter how much you want them to…be…no, you can't be." So many faces flashed before the Doctor's eyes, people he left behind, people he let die. The Master tried to shake him out of it as he said "Adric, Jamie, Peri, Sara, Katarina, Dodo…, stop it all of you, please." "Come on, Doc, you're not losing it on my account. Nosferatu told me we've got to head through that door to the Shape. Come on, don't give up on me." The Doctor passed out as the Master grabbed him and dragged him by the legs to the solid oak door. On the knockers were skulls, the Master knocked and the door was opened by what appeared to be Lurch from the Addams Family, who vanished instantaneously. "Strange, that. Must have been the Shape, it can't tell whether to invite us in or discourage us. Funny being a schizophrenic weapon of doom. Showing us loved ones we had mixed feelings for, then a terrifying yet kindly butler."

The chamber was very dark to say the least full of ancient paintings of historical events. "It says here Doctor that this place was built by the Disciples of the Light to hide their leadership, but it was seized by six ambitious Eternals. These Eternals guided the course of a little planet to mastery over time and space. But that when their champions fells out of favour, it was a five to one majority to join the Daleks. It must have been Life who sided against them. I remember that I was side-lined as Death's Champion for a Dalek named Caan. An insane one, too. What kind of Daleks have names anyway? Then it says that in the early years of Gallifreys ascension to mastery of time and space, the last remaining member of the ancient witch covens of the Pythia met in the caverns of Gallifreys Citadel to speak with the Other and Omega. What for, I wonder?

**Gallifrey, millions of years before the Doctor was born**

It had been so long since he had been let out of his cell. Parakosh the Ambiguous had been spared for his loyalty to Rassilon's new regime. He still had means of escape, but he needed someone to smuggle him out and this offer from Rassilon's fellow rulers, Omega and the Other was just what he needed. He was brought through the black corridors of Gallifreys dungeons to a place of foreboding whilst manacled in Dravidian steel. An old place where they had etched a summoning circle in the name of his late mistress, the Pythia, struck down before her time. "Omega, my granddaughter's husband deigns me with my presence. What is it that you and this Other want? Omega was a handsome man, tall with a strikingly foreboding pale complexion and blonde hair. He had buffed up during his days as Preylix the lowly plumber, who had the tenacity to marry one of the blood of the Ambiguous. The Other, on the other hand (ha, I am ever so lyrical and witty), was a purple haired man who would have been considered handsome once, had it not been that his eyes showed a great age to them. Parakosh assumed he must have been one of the Great Old Ones. "We want you to do something for us." "And what would that be, Preylix?" Omega glared at him with anger before saying "We want you to create a machine which can kill the Menti Celesti, these Eternals Rassilon is leading our people towards. We are still loyal worshippers of the True Gods, good Parakosh. And we think the blood magic of the Pythias combined with the stronger telepathic abilities of True Gods worshippers may accelerate this power. For Rassilon not only dabbles with false gods, he is quite intimate with their goddess of death and is determined to wage war on her command. We need something to stop him for someone else, in case he takes us out."

The Other nodded remaining silent. "What is in it for me?" Parakosh asked rubbing his forefinger and thumb together. "A place of rest worshipping the Menti Celesti. You will have a chance to study them for the oncoming war, in case they suspect you, you will need to know their powers well enough to pass off as a truly devoted follower of theirs." Parakosh merely nodded his head saying: "We need to engineer something though, they are higher beings than we are, even if they're not fit to be gods, we need a backup plan to stop them." Thinking long and hard, Omega said "Once this Eye of Harmony is set up, we will all have to make a conscious effort to make sure these false gods are destroyed, utterly. If they gain control of the hearts and minds of our people through Rassilon, then they could rule time and space. The Other has foreseen a time when they abandon our people for a race of merciless killers, who will go to war with our descendants for mastery of time and space. The only concern I have is for you, Parakosh. You may very well become so old your mind will become theirs, your older self will have no choice but to be their servant. We only ask you to use the last magic in you, which I'm sure is plentiful to create the ultimate weapon which can destroy them."

And so it came to pass that his manacles were removed and the Other, Omega and himself cast their blood into a prism of time energy, not entirely dissimilar to the Key to Time. They tested it on a demi-Eternal, the child of an Eternal with a mortal. She had represented herself as one of the lesser gods, a subordinate to Life. Her name was Imagination. Her hand was placed on the prism by the Other, who was immune to the powers of the Menti Celesti, his telepathic ability being non-Gallifreyan in origin. Imagination died, a goddess who would have suited the Doctor as a mistress. The curiosity and imagination of the Time Lords largely died with her. Rassilon did not object to this but the Other wasn't punished, only forced to hand over the prism. He did, knowing its existence spelt the end of the Menti Celesti regardless. The prism was given to Death by Rassilon, her Champion. She initially saw the blood within it had become a nectar which was addictive to all those who drank it, when testing it on subjects. Her subjects became known as the Great Vampires after Nosferatu assumed power. Nosferatu held the prism after so long and brought it to this universe only to lose it to Death and Rassilon. Death found an uninhabited planet out in the Condensate Wilderness, beyond the Wildlands and the Dark Matter Reefs. She cut a large scathe through it which allowed elements from the Six-Fold Realm to bleed out here. She had a chamber built on the other end of the scathe to house the Shape. The architects were human slaves who went made completing the structure. Eventually, the energy from the Six-Fold Realm allowed life to spring here, plant and animal anyway, none intelligent. Mankind settled here and founded Utopia. The story has been told already, Death felt annoyed by this so she slaughtered them. Eventually, the survivors became the Toclafane, and human refugees who came here at the end of the universe were changed irrevocably into Toclafane as well. The humanoid blood within the Shape became their nectar, unlike the Great Vampires they were not given an inexhaustible amount of the nectar. They had to clone and then farm humans for sustenance. The boy, Creet, was chosen to become King of the Toclafane for his imagination and hard-working aptitude. This was the reason why the Toclafane speak in such a childish manner. Most of the humans either became Toclafane or died. All gave their DNA for cloning, either willingly or unwillingly. The Toclafane had been Death's creation, to allow her and the rest of the Menti Celesti to survive beyond the universe in this Ark. Life continued through the Toclafane and the human cattle, death continued through the cultivation of the humans, pain continued through the agony of their lives and even more agonising deaths and the passage of time continued as the humans aged, though the Toclafane did not. Living in the darkness caused all faith and all hope to be crushed, so Faith and Hope withered away and died. The Other saw this in the Untempered Schism and so he knew he had to find that Ark and destroy it. So he threw one side of himself; his brave and curious side into the Loom of the House of Lungbarrow. The other part; the intellectual yet surreptitious and cautious part, was flung into the Loom of the House of Oakdown. Eventually, on Otherstide, a holiday in his remembrance a hybrid boy named Tommy Pickles was born from the last of the Other's biodata in his family. The Finster family inherited the other side all the way through the generations, so all of them had aspects of the Other from his presence in the Looms. Ever since the ancient Charles Finster looked into the Looms before his initiation to the Untempered Schism, he has been a part of them. The Other has waited for the moment they came here, battling the influence of the Menti Celesti in both of their minds. His influence on Chuckie is lesser, but Tommy, he needs to make him awaken for destiny to begin spinning the wheel of fortune for these two, before it's too late.

**The Six-Fold Realm, Beyond Time and Space**

"Doctor, I don't know if you're getting this but it just sort of stops after saying the Other committed suicide in the House of Lungbarrow. Omega of course died when Rassilon sabotaged his ship. He really ended up in the antimatter universe, as we know. But still. It's a cool story. Doesn't say much about Parakosh. But if you listened to the start, it's obvious he's the Hermit, so that part's another one best forgotten. Doctor? Doctor?"

The Master turned round to the place by the Shape's pedestal where he had left the Doctor but he wasn't there. "Doctor? Come here man, don't tell me you're dead. Oh fuck you scared me." Standing behind him was indeed the Doctor, though at the moment he was unflinching and didn't even seem to bat an eyelid. "Doctor?" The Doctor shook his head and pointed to the image of the Other committing suicide. "Oh by the True Gods. So you really have come to finish what you started. No wonder Nosferatu sent me to find the Doctor. He planted that knowledge in my ear. Only the Doctor and I can kill Death, because the Other is the only one who can kill the Menti Celesti. Oh, now that is brilliant."

"Stupid as well boy, now we know which one of you to kill first," a deep voice could be heard behind the Master, as it was Pain standing behind him. "Apart from Omega, wherever he may be, the Other is the only one who can stop us. Now be a good champion of Death and hand him over to us." Pain had the body of a tall man, he looked sort of like a tall Ivan the Terrible or Henry VIII, with a bit of Henry Holmes moustache and head with a bit of Charles Manson beard mixed in there. The Other looked him dead in the eye with the Doctor's eyes and said something which the Master could not understand in a voice that was not the Doctor's. "How come I can't understand you? We came here in a Tardis. You should be speaking Gallifreyan to me." The Other looked at him and the Master realised that the Other must have been from the universe prior to this one as he placed his hands on the Master's head.

Images of another ark flashed before his eyes, with the Other aboard as a galley worker for the actual ship itself. Like now, there was no light in the skies and the power seemed to emanate from the centre. There was no Shape of Eternity this time, but an Eye of Harmony. The Time Lords of the previous universe must have been the survivors of that universe, rather than the Menti Celesti. And whatever race the Other was they were the equivalent of the human livestock outside. Eventually they came to the next universe when the Other blew up the Eye of Harmony during a revolution through methods undisclosed. The Master then saw the creatures spreading across his universe like flies, becoming gods to the peoples. He recognised them as the Great Old Ones or the Elder Gods. The Animus, the Nestene Consciousness, the Great Intelligence, Fenric, oh so many of them. They wreaked havoc and created images of themselves as gods to the peoples of each world they enslaved. The Master knew now that whatever about the Great Old Ones, the universe needed to start anew and certainly not with the Toclafane or the Menti Celesti at the helm. His hour of vengeance with Death would be now, not her time to become a true god.

The Other gesticulated at the Master's pocket and told him the Colt was not for now. He pointed to the Master's laser screwdriver, but something in his mind said that for now, the Master would need to use his imagination. "Nobody move or I'll fire this," he shouted withdrawing the Colt for no apparent reason. Pain screamed and all of a sudden, Time, Life and Death joined him. Life took the form of what appeared to be an angel, with the slight hint of a young woman on heroin to her eyes. Time appeared right beside the Master and grabbed his hand wrenching the weapon from him and throwing it to the ground. The Master's hand had aged significantly since she touched him and so had her face, Clara Oswald's face was now middle aged all of a sudden. "So physical contact allows for the passage of time, does it? Interesting? I'll keep that in mind." Time flinched away from him as Pain grabbed his throat.

"What would you have me do with him, my sweet Death?" "Bring him before me for judgement. Did you really think, Chuckie, that I wouldn't anticipate the Colt? Oh please, the only thing worthy of killing me here is your friend over there. Life, Time kill him." Time grabbed the Colt and fired it at the Other but he deflected the bullet using mind powers. "How on Earth did you do that?" The Other spoke in his ancient language once more and Death smirked in reply and said "Typical pre-universal beings. Your powers in this universe are heightened, but that doesn't make you invincible. Particularly not against Eternals, in this universe we are in our element." The Master had to laugh at that "Don't you notice that said universe has died?" Death's smile of victory turned into a frown of loss as the Other grabbed Time by the neck and watched her age to death. He then spoke with the voice of the Seventh Doctor saying "You ruined me, you vile harpy. I hope you find justice wherever Eternals go beyond death." Time's body faded to dust before the Doctor/Other as he turned to face his enemy, Death. She just stood there smiling as Pain advanced on the Doctor, but the Other allowed the Doctor some influence in this case, using Venusian aikido to turn Pain's tactics against him. Pain wasn't fazed by pain, but he was by moves like that. Eventually, he was so weakened that the Other put the Doctor's hand into the nectar within the Shape of Eternity and snapped Pain's neck, giving him a painless, instant death. Otherwise, he would have returned.

As each one of the Menti Celesti died, their pathway seemed to collapse and Death's had the only portal back to Utopia and the Tardis, so the boys needed to deal with her last, which the Master truly desired. Life used her powers alongside Death to choke the life by willpower from the Master and the Doctor, but that didn't affect the Other, who was already dead, he grabbed one of the knives he and the Master had been keeping and drove it into the Shape of Eternity. Withdrawing it, he slit Life's throat and said with the voice of the Eighth Doctor "I could have done more of a service to you, but everything has its time and everything dies. Even you, dear mistress." Looking up at Death, the Other left the Doctor who regained consciousness. Looking at the bodies of the dead gods, he said "What the fuck were we drinking last night?" He dropped his knife, which the Master proceeded to pick up and grabbed Death from round the back placing the knife at her throat. "Shall I do it, Doctor? These are the last moments you will ever see of the Master? Come on, Doctor? Watch me end her." Death laughed and said "Oh, you fucking idiot, don't you see. I'll just become one of you when you die." The Master was stunned "How come?" "I'm in both of your minds since you were children and you stand before me alive and well, today. I have plenty of chances for survival, even if you do slit my throat. So go ahead, Master. I'd be ever so proud of you." The Doctor didn't know what to do and neither did the Master. Then the Doctor replied with "Take me and leave him be." "But he'll just kill me in your body and why would I want to waste that." "Trust me, he won't he'll have had the satisfaction of killing you by then and you can just remove your influence over him and his homicidal tendencies will go away. It's that simple." Death cackled like the witch from Snow White before replying with "And throw away my greatest work of art? You really can't comprehend us, Doctor. We are called Eternals for a reason, because even in death we live on. Even if I'm gone, death remains. Life, time and pain will continue in the next universe as will faith and hope, I am certain. Our champions are our marks on history, and I certainly want the Master to live. But still you will accept me, Doctor?" "Yes, and I'll make the Master promise he won't kill me, won't you Master," the Doctor with his eyes looking desperate implored his very angered old friend. "Yes," the Master said through gritted teeth as the Doctor winked at him. "Is that a promise? Can I have your luscious body you gave so willingly to that human girl all those years ago when you could have had goddesses at your feet?"

"I did have one. I married her and had children with her." The Master smiled at that and then said "Any last words, babes?" "Go fuck yourself, Finster." "Love you too sweetheart," and with that Death's throat opened to reveal black blood spewing everywhere, but her spirit could clearly be seen entering the Doctor despite this clear death. The Doctor fought back as hard as he could but she kept persisting and persisting until he was comatose. "You will be mine, Tommy! Mine! This time there will be no Danse Macabre." Then as he passed out he rose up and the Master could see something deadly in his eyes. "Oh, you'll pay for that now. You're going to get some fucking beating off this bitch…Ah." She began to haemorrhage and scream in sheer agony. The Doctor was forcefully regenerating with the help of the Other, whom Chuckie could see by the dead eyes was asserting himself. Not even a goddess like Death could have withstood that power, she tried to resist as the Other moved the Doctor's right hand for the Master to throw him the knife. The Master did and with one great thrust, the Other shoved it into the Doctor's chest and with that Death died and the Doctor collapse. Sensing his urgency, the Other sang a song. An ancient one which the Master thought most beautiful, he closed his eyes and dreamt of Mount Perdition as the Tardis materialised on the other side of the chamber. The Master began to cry as he felt his old self returning, he still looked like Billy Bob Thornton, but Chuckie Finster was returning. He was Chuckie deep within his heart again…he could feel it, he felt so much like his old self…he felt…terrified. The chamber was collapsing and the Shape looked like it was about to explode. Death must have been using the last of her powers to get vengeance. "Ah, Doctor, get us the fuck out of here! I'm not dying with Death, I just learned how to live again!" Then he saw his old friend was clearly dead. "No, not like this. If I'm not dying, then you're certainly not, here comes the big brave dog."

Lifting his friend's corpse over his head, Chuckie carried him into the Tardis as the chamber collapsed around them. He set the coordinates for England, 2005 and quickly. Finding the restorative paddles that had been left lying in the Tardis, Chuckie placed them on the Doctor's chest and pressed hard. His eyes opened and he looked at Chuckie and said "I'm still regenerating mate, sorry. It was the only way I could stop her, until he came back." The Doctor started coughing up blood, no wonder he was dying. Death had crushed all of his vital organs during their struggle. "I'm not losing you of all people, not today. Remember Doctor, we are the Lords of Time and it is our destiny to go on. Our friendship is not going to begin again with your death. Fight back that pain, regenerate if you must." And so the Doctor leapt up as regeneration began and bright lights through the Master to one side. The energy seemed to go everywhere. Rebounding across the console room, almost rejuvenating the Tardis. "This isn't regeneration this time, Chuckie. No you've changed the course of our lives, this time it's rebirth." Then it was over, the new Doctor stood up, he was purple haired with a bit of stubble and the old clothes really didn't suit him this time. Chuckie recognised his friend instantly, he looked exactly as Tommy had around the time he turned 100. They embraced but the Doctor pushed him aside and said "Chuckie, I may look like I once did, but I'm still the Doctor. Nothing can change that. And you still have old debts to settle with me. You set a course for 2005?" Yes?" "What time of year?" "Christmas time. Why?" Tommy smiled and said "That's perfect, Christmas is a time for reunion, old friend." He even had Tommy's voice, Chuckie thought. This was the day that the short lived reunion of the Rugrats began. For the next few weeks, would spell the end of everything they held dear and its reconstruction and redestruction by a madman in the heavens.

**The Capitol, Gallifrey**

From outside her bedroom, Chuckie could hear his sister screaming from labour pains, if only she had chosen to go by Loom route. He knew from this time that she probably would if she ever had a second child. Tommy had to go and get her pregnant before he got lost in another dimension, didn't he? Times were tough on Gallifrey so he had summoned the Voiceless Others to protect the café from outside intruders. Morbius had upped the ante, and had even sent his father on a mission to a place called the Shoal to keep him out of the way. Chuckie anticipated this as a trap for the family so he kept his gang members in secret locations near the café, until Chaz came back. His father may not have been the bravest or the toughest, but he knew how to escape and withstand attack. They didn't call him Marnal for nothing. On the planet Terros, Marnal means "Mapmaker of the Heavens," he could find an escape route or an access tunnel anywhere. He had always loved the stars and when he was grounded on Gallifrey, these places. Chuckie had taken them away from the café and kept most of the gang members there as a deterrent. They were staying in the family estates at Mount Perdition, where the finest rose garden in the universe was kept by his father. To leave his sister's screams for a while, he decided to venture out here.

Hard to believe it had been nine months since Tommy went through that Manipulator. Chuckie feared the worst, then he tried to remind himself that time is not relative in other dimensions and Tommy might only have been there five minutes at this point, or less, or more. He feared what the Toymaker had in store for them, he had been so blind. The Celestial Toymaker would not have cared one jot about Gallifrey or its government. Chuckie burst into tears at the thought of the father of his new niece or nephew being a rag doll in an all-powerful madman's collection. His best friend was now going to die, all because of him. Death and the rest of the Menti Celesti had a lot to answer for, he thought. He didn't quite know how much then or how far he would go in retaliation, but he would one day. He looked at the roses and saw the famous blue one with a red stalk. It reminded him in many ways of Tommy, how they used to play with flowers when they were young. He thought back then to when Chaz would take them out here. He and Kimi would play with Tommy, Phil and Lil. Oh, those were the days. He would never forget them. No matter how harrowing things became in the future.

Kira came running down from the grand house to the rose garden with a beam of delight on her face. "Chuckie, come quick, he's here. Your father's here. And just in time for the new baby boy." A smile spread on Chuckie's face, even with Tommy gone he had a new nephew, who was Tommy in so many ways. The boy had the purple hair of his parents and had eyes just like his mother's, very brown eyes, but he acted just like Tommy did as a baby. His smile lit up a room, and Chuckie was more than happy to accept Tommy had knocked his sister up, now that he had such a cute, enjoyable nephew. Tommy Jr. grew up with his father's surname that was decided by his mother, who held out hope that Tommy would come back. Two months later, Howard Deville was murdered. Chuckie didn't want the baby anywhere near Phil and Lil, he told Kimi to stay away from their friends. After three months, the baby blues hit Kimi very hard. She missed Tommy and began pining for her own species. She and Kira had come from 20th century Earth and she begged Chaz to let her leave for a while to explore. He gave her access to the Tardis. Her son was two when she returned, still Kimi in nature, looks, everything basically. She just had a new sense, her son took a shine to her instantly after the separation. Like his father he was devoted to Kimi. The darkest day the little boy ever lived through was the day that old man came from Lungbarrow. They had made sure Stu and Didi knew about their eldest grandchild and had contact with him. This vulture was only interest in finding an heir, in case Tommy truly was dead. Chuckie confronted him with a staser gun when he came home that evening and saw Kimi arguing with him to hand back her son. It went directly in the old man's face "Long time no see, Quences. Can't say I regret it. You leave this boy in peace or I'll kill you here and now. Your choice." "You human loving idiots, you're worse than my grand-nephew, Stu. The filthy habits march on through the generations." Quences was kicked out the door in the least taciturn manner possible. "You didn't have to do that Chuckie but thank you." "You know what that vulture did to Tommy? I'm not letting that happen to his son, my nephew, your son, either." Quences never darkened their doors again, but Chuckie had a distinctive feeling that the man who ratted out his own nephew to Morbius would have some hand, act or part in what happened next.

When Junior was three, Chaz brought his grandson to work in the Capitol for a day, while his mother was sick. Chuckie dropped by only to find a note from Chaz and his nephew lying behind the counter with Kira, who was crying. The place was completely ransacked and nothing looked the same. On the wall was written "Alien Lover" in a mysterious brown coat. The note said:

"_Chuckie they're onto you. Go into hiding, deep, deep hiding. I've managed to deflect their evidence to me, you need to make a final act, sooner rather than later. I've worked it out with Mr Saldaamir, he and Stu Pickles are getting me off world, Minka Kropotkin will take care of me at her home in England. I'll be safe, all the blame is going to be moved from you to me in their eyes. The iron is hot, and will be for a while. Morbius is in decline, look in the dungeons. I've found Tommy. Tommy is alive, and he's been home longer than you think. You will probably never see me again, at least not on Gallifrey. My Tardis is Kimi's now, which is why I've escaped to Earth by less conventional means. I don't even know if I'll survive this. Goodbye, son. Give my love to Kira, Kimi and little Tommy. His father's coming back for him soon, I know it."_

Kira looked up at her son as she saw Chuckie beaming, he could only read his father's code, not her. It was the code of the Voiceless Others. "What's so funny, Chuckie? We're never going to see your father again." "Tommy's alive. And I'm going to save him."


	18. The Spider's Games Parlour

**London, 2005**

The sky was grey today, grey with the mark of clouds, an overcast day. Three months ago, famed novelist Marnal Gate died, nobody knows why, nobody knows how. His nurse claims he left and never came home when an old friend dropped by, a friend called the Doctor. He was no Doctor, a Doctor heals, and he doesn't bring a man to his death. They spoke of Gallifrey and all the mad subjects fit for his novels, the strangest thing was though, that Mr Gate had been on his death bed and just before this Doctor arrived he became a young man again. The girl was sectioned and sent to a mental asylum by some unknown organisation by the name of Torchwood. Marnal Gate's body was never found officially, Torchwood dissected him, but when Harold Saxon gained influence via the Archangel Network he had the body buried peacefully. The new regeneration had been so unlike his father, his belief was suspended. His father was a small, timid red-haired man with glasses, this man, while indeed his father was young and tall with brown eyes.

Harold Saxon eventually came across his long-lost mother, Kira, she was his step-mother but he loved her very much as if she were his own, his natural mother having died when he was only an infant. She was so weak since coming from Gallifrey, she was simple minded now but she wanted to find her husband, knowing he was on Earth if he was anywhere. Saxon told her everything before cradling her in his arms and giving her an overdose of heroin causing severe shock. She was buried with Marnal at the Minister's request. No one ever knew the connection between Mr Saxon and this poor addled Japanese woman and they didn't ask either. Many people didn't ask the day a phone box showed up at the same cemetery where Marnal was buried and out walked two men. One with purple hair and stubble wearing what appeared to be a blue T-shirt and white trousers. His friend was serious looking with brown hair and a beard, looked much older, but still had a smile on his face. The day was 25th December 2005, and Kira Finster had just been buried on the orders of Vivien Rook. The Master had made it clear to her to do this. Marnal had been dead since July, the Doctor had had him buried.

The purple-haired one, who called himself the Doctor said to the mysterious phone box "I know, girl, I miss him to. But the Master's his son, we've got to let him see them." His friend stalked closer to the grave as he whispered to the phone box "Look, I have a feeling that even with Death gone, he's not completely normal, but we've got to see. Okay, Sexy?" The Tardis vibrated with a pleasance as the Doctor patted her and then snapped his fingers, thereby shutting the door. The Master was now standing over his parents' graves without expression. "Was he alone at the end, T?" "No, I was beside him. I told him how I felt and how the Tardis felt." "Which body were you in? That overly sentimental one who saved girls from airships, you know the one I tried to use the Eye of Harmony against?" "That's the one. You were nowhere to be seen and your dad could barely remember Gallifrey. Do you ever wonder could she…?" "No, I wouldn't say so. Dad had a lot to regret, she had everything to come back to." The Doctor smiled and said "She was a good woman and your parents were as good as family to me. Especially when I had no one, after the revolution. Your dad was gone, here on Earth, but when I was younger he had shown me so much. The stars…the universe…your dad is the reason the Doctor even existed. Then came the later years, when I was a civil servant to the new government under Azmael and Pandak and I needed space. Before we got the house, Kira was a dear. She moved in with us after we got the house in Arcadia, big gaff so it was." "I remember it well, T, with your telescope in the attic and the stargazing you and Tommy Jr used to do. What days they were. The days when we were a family. You, me, Phil, Lil, Dill, Kimi…and the children. Tell me is your dad still around, in San Francisco." The Doctor smiled and said "He used a Chameleon Arch years ago, when the Time War began, he became Daniel Joyce permanently. I revived him after I went to Anne's funeral." Anne Joyce was the Doctor's stepmother. Years ago, about a hundred years before he left Gallifrey, Didi had died of a severe brain aneurysm. She had been sent home to be buried with her parents in England. The grave was only down a few rows from Marnal and Kira's. Stu had been heartbroken for about fifty years after that, until he convinced Tommy to find him a place in the CIA to get him off Gallifrey. During his time serving with them on other planets, he settled down in late 20th century San Francisco with a human woman named Anne, once his service was up. All the files on Stu, or Ulysses as he like to call himself were erased by the CIA on his behalf. His father had many tales to tell from before his days of crackpot inventing, journeys to beyond the mind, imprisonment on Shada and his quest to find Omega, which he brought Tommy and the rest of the babies on once. His former student, Larna, who had left Gallifrey when Tommy was five, had joined him in working on many scientific projects. At Anne's funeral, Tommy made his presence known to his father which allowed the Chameleon Arch's effects to be rewritten.

"Poor Stu, I'd like to see him. I suppose it's just us three left now. I mean your kids…we're the last ones…not even Phil and Lil are around anymore." The Doctor leered up at him with disgust "You say that like it's a bad thing." The Master nodded and said "Wouldn't you say that to them if I weren't the one here?" "Of course…do you know what it's like though, living my life? Seeing your friends turn evil while you persist in a self-righteous crusade to see the universe, it can hurt you. You and them, you all just kept adventuring for your own purposes, me I saved planets and universes. Took on companions as I grew to miss my family and you guys…what you once were anyway. I've got my dad, but only for the past few months or so. I want to be dead, Chuckie. And I want the one person who's tried the longest to do it." At the Doctor's feet was the Colt.

"You can't be serious, T." "Kill me. The Doctor is over. I am nothing. Today, I discovered the Other and I really are one and the same and I… all my life has just been nothing except to be his tool to go to the Six-Fold Realm at the proper moment. He engineered this whole thing. I don't want my life controlled any further. It already has enough interference. I'm not in the Toyroom anymore." There were tears in the Doctor's eyes now, he was clearly traumatised of whatever was in there. The Master then asked "What happened, man? You're the bravest guy I know. There has to be something still getting to you about that place. What is it?" The Doctor began from the beginning…

**The Celestial Toyroom**

Agony. That's all he could describe it as, the feeling of materialisation upon arrival in this other dimension. His neck must have gone right round his head, and at least one of his ankles was sprained. He couldn't believe the amount of effort this took. The Time Vortex had gone a distinct shade of red and then patterned like dominoes. White spots on black, the dominoes seemed to fall as he arrived. Then he was in a dollhouse where he suddenly felt solid ground on his behind. His sight was so distorted all he could see was the dolls. After blinking a few times, he saw something moving. He saw statues of angels covering their faces a slight distance from the spot where the movement had occurred. Strange, he thought, this is just like that book about that girl, Alice who chased rabbits. There were no stone angels in this though. He walked up to one of the angels and gave a tug on the stone, but he felt something coursing through it. He sniffed the stone residue on his fingertips and said "Chronon energy. You're time locked. Poor things. When I look at you, I see you quantum locked. Hang on, there's a note on one of your wings." Tommy noticed Millennia's handwriting had been scrawled hurriedly onto the scrap of paper, cellotaped to one of the wings.

"_Tommy, we've waited a few hours now and you still haven't come yet. We know someone is coming so hopefully you won't be too much longer. Hope to see you soon. The Toymaker appeared before us and told us the object of the game. We had to have our eyes constantly on the Weeping Angels and we couldn't let them get us. If we had then we would have become one of the dolls. Good luck, hopefully we make it through the next room and you do too._

_Rallon & Millennia_

Right, he thought, keep looking at the Angels, it can't be that hard. And then he got the shock of his life as he turned round to see two of them were advancing on him like a hungry piece of flesh. He looked toward the door to the dollhouse and made a mad dash for it. On the other side was a stairway which went on for five floors. The Angels were also following him, he could hear them. He looked at the drop below and said "Right, here goes nothing, Tommy." Thrusting himself at the bannister, Tommy felt himself falling as far as he could to the concrete floor below. His bones felt very broken and bruised but he could still stand. At least his ankle was back in place. He wondered how he survived and then he saw a sheet of glass directly above where he landed. His tenth incarnation would use this trick as well when falling into the Naismith mansion during his final battle against the Master. He regained himself and looked up to see that the Weeping Angels were climbing down the sides of the stairs, they must have jumped as well. He ran for the door only to see another one right before him, its jaw outstretched as if to eat him. Tommy was trapped, three were coming at him from above and one was in his way. He then noticed it had his wrist. "Oh well, what a way to go." He closed his eyes and waited for the Weeping Angels to get him. Then he heard a voice "You will be still." He opened his eyes to see a man, a gaunt looking man with no energy in his face whatsoever wearing an outfit befitting a Chinese Mandarin. "Please, he doesn't even know the rules yet. Pardon, good sir, my Angels are a tad overzealous. Don't even know why I keep them here, sometimes I consider leaving them to the rest of the universe. They're a bit to terrifying for my style." Tommy merely stood wide-eyed at this man "You are the Toymaker. Good sir, I beseech you. My planet is ruled by a tyrant and we ask your help as a Guardian of Time to intervene." The Toymaker laughed "If you want that then you'd need to play. Though your friends have had that privilege. I suggest you join them, they're on the last game and in dire straits."

Suddenly, Tommy was in a room of lined chequers where Rallon was clearly lying in a pool of his own blood whilst an axe-man stood over him. The axe-man had blood on his double-headed axe and had the face of a troll, all squeezed together like it was some form of mashed foodstuff. Rallon was coughing up blood, it was clear he had lost. He looked at Tommy and pointed beside him where Millennia in the form of a living doll stood. She looked Tommy dead in the eyes, shook her new plastic head and made a gesture indicating he should run away. He did but the Toymaker was in the way, this time with a different face, Rallon's face. "What have you done to my friends, Toymaker?" The Toymaker laughed with Rallon's voice "Why dear Thomas, I have merely defeated them and made them my pawns. Rallon is merely my host, because that Millennia girl thought she could defy me at chess, well she learned the hard way. He lost a game of Literal Mortal Kombat, to my axe-man, and I gave him extra health potions and everything. The poor boy. There's still you though, boy. Though considering the rules are best two out of three, I'll only be letting you go home if you win. If you lose then, you die. I have no need for someone whose mind is as rebellious and noble as yours. Only weak little girls with large intellects like Millennia and handsome fools like Rallon. Rallon's still there by the way, go to him. Have your final intelligent moments with him and Millennia before I destroy you as well." Tommy walked over to Rallon's bleeding body. Rallon looked up and said "We lost, Tommy. It was all a trap, all along. Chuckie laid it for us. He betrayed us." Tommy shook his head and said "Chuckie is my best friend in the whole wide world. He wouldn't have let the Toymaker do this to any of us. I've had cause to doubt him, but I think he expected us to die here. Not become his pawns in a grander game." Millennia walked over and embraced her lover warmly. "He's going to keep what's left of Rallon after today as his own host. I'll be stuck here watching him day after day, night after night, abuse my husband's body. Promise you'll come back for us Tommy. If anyone can win this, it's going to be you. Look at the way he looks at you, he's struggling to think of a game which can beat you, which makes me think it'll be your choice in the end. You'll win." "I promise, Millennia. I swear on my grandfather's grave, I will lead an army of Time Lords on this place when we have dealt with Morbius. We will crush them, all of them. And I'll have the Toymaker stripped limb from limb." His two friends smiled before they disappeared before him, as if to say they believed in him. It would be a good few centuries before they escaped the Toyroom, when the Doctor eventually came for them in his fifth incarnation.

"Toymaker! I challenge you to a duel! Pistols at dawn." "Very well then," the Toymaker made a move of his hand and the room transformed into a dawned upon country landscape with only Tommy carrying one flintlock pistol and a man with a very French looking moustache carrying the other. "The Toymaker?" "No, the Lone Ranger as a matter of fact. I'm just in my duelling outfit today. Nice to see you old chap," the figure replied in an upper class British accent. "Oh, great! A proper gunman, I thought I'd be shooting against Rallon. Anyway, ten paces it is…" Tommy lifted the gun beside his head as the Lone Ranger followed suit. He saw the birds flying before him, all bloody and veiled. What odd birds, he thought. Although, it wasn't his world he supposed. He gulped and cocked the gun as he heard someone fire and a bullet graze his ear. "You fucker! You cheated! Well, if you can, then so can I!" Tommy fired two bullets, one in each of the Lone Ranger's kneecaps. "Gah! Where did you learn to shoot, Gallifreyan scum?" "Nowhere, but you are hiding so much tissue in those pants for overcompensation it was hard not to miss the knees." The blood flowing from those knees caused the Lone Ranger to slip as he tried to stand despite the pain. "Ah, fuck! I yield! I yield!" The Toymaker appeared beside them again and Tommy said "Has that earned me passage home?" "Yes, indeed it has. Nothing can stop your return now. Only you can keep playing for the lives of your friends, if you so desire. Say I give you back Rallon and Millennia if you win the next game, if you lose then they are mine for all eternity." "Deal."

"But first, dear Thomas, why not show me your life? Can you imagine what it would be like if your friends, your family and you lived as new people? Humans, say. No Morbius, no Quences, just the people you care about happy and unfettered in their life." Tommy saw the planet Earth and there he was living in a small town in California, having the same adventures, just Quences wasn't necessarily present or Morbius. But it all seemed so unnatural. His brother being born in a hospital, his family and friends growing up around him and then just stopping. As soon as he took a look at the age of eleven his life just vanished. He didn't exist beyond that age, why not. Oh, of course, because the Toymaker grew bored with them. He ended the game because his entertainment had come to an end. God, he was like Rupert Murdoch. "I'd rather we played the game, Toymaker, I'm not staying here any longer than I have to and neither are Rallon and Millennia, so quit toying with me, Toymaker! "Very well. Your life as a toy is usually everyone else's favourite game."

Then, Tommy was in an arena with the Toymaker where the same axe-man as before stood and slew Rallon. "Literal Mortal Kombat? I see you have little imagination when it comes to Rallon?" "Oh, please. I'd rather you died now before you return home to give me the satisfaction." "I demand a different game." Then he was in an area with ice on the floor. Five seconds later, it was lava. "The object of the game is to make it to the other side of the room without burning or freezing." "Are you going to tell me, that I can't possibly win these games? "Not in a straightforward way anyway?" the Toymaker giggled with delight from behind one of Rallon's hands.

Tommy seethed with anger "Those people risked their lives to get your help, and because they lost a game you've destroyed their whole lives. Never had I seen more genuine love between two people, never had I seen the truth of the universe in another friendship. Never had I felt with my other friends that I could look on a painting and see something ideal. I've thrown my whole life away because until last night I had none anymore. I had no family anymore, my best friend and I were practically bitter rivals and my other friends become more and more dark and distant as each day passes. And then the girl I've loved since I was one has confessed her love for me, at the worst time possible. Take me instead of them. Please. They have a life to go back to, I'm just a friendless, unloved waste of space. I'm nothing. Kill me now." The Toymaker laughed and laughed "I expected a selfless sacrifice, but nothing on this level. There are very few people with your significance to history, Tommy Pickles. The universe has come to know you by another name, but I know your true name, because I know you now. At the end, I have come to know you. Why do you think I gave you such an easy challenge? So I can challenge you again one day when you are a worthy opponent."

Tommy was speechless. He picked up his bearings and said "You're sparing me, so that I can come back and face you again one day. I'd rather die than come back to this hellhole." "You won't have a choice the next time, I shall choose you for the ultimate game one day. It's going to take me a few centuries before I can pick a challenge worthy of you, and there's no point waiting here, now is there? I take it you want to go home?" Tommy was ready to hit him and then he said "Better there than here, I guess. Rallon and Millennia are never coming home, I may as well go in their stead, and live for them."

Nine doors appeared before him. "Each of these doors will lead the way to Gallifrey, one to the Capitol, one to each of the Houses you are familiar with and the other to a mystery location. It could be anywhere on the planet." Tommy looked at the Toymaker and said "I hope I die on the other side and save you the satisfaction." Tommy rushed for the mystery door and shoved it open. On the other side was a bland grey room. "Hello? Anyone? Is this another game, Toymaker?" "You really are an idiot, aren't you boy? A petty god like the Celestial Toymaker would never have helped your cause. Still, I guess we're almost family, or at least my son and you are cousins in some way. Didn't expect him to return you here of all places, we've had spies waiting around different spots you might turn up in for a while. Thanks for making me hire more than I had to, that's taxpayer's money, you know!" Tommy looked as to where the voice could be "Who is this? Morbius? Ah, at least I hear the voice of our dear leader. The one who hides behind the newsreels and counsellors. Come out and face me, dear Imperator. I've just lost two people I liked today, and I am not in the mood for torture and execution. What I want now is blood! I want your blood, Morbius! On behalf of my grandfather, Lou, I demand you come here and face me." "That was nine months ago, Tommy. None of your family seem to judge me. Not even Quences, and he was a strong bulwark for your family in many ways." Tommy shivered at the name of his great-grand uncle, "I'd rather we didn't speak of that loathsome rat."

Morbius mocked him with a derogatory laugh and said through whatever was projecting his voice "We will speak later. When my men have softened your tongue, boy." Tommy went into a corner and dreamt of the night sky, waiting for his torturers. He closed his eyes and felt in his pocket, to find his grandfather's old pocket watch. Inside, he could see the picture of him and Dill as babies, from when his father gave it to him all those years ago after Dill was born. "Responsibility," he whispered to himself. "I'm sorry, Grandpa. I let you down. I let the whole family down. I let the revolution down. I let Rallon and Millennia down. I let Chuckie down, oh how I have let him down. I've let all my friends down. And…I let Kimi down. If it truly has been nine months, they must think we're all dead. Not just me. Not just me. Responsibility? I'm an irresponsible mess." Tommy slept that night as he waited for his torturers. He was so terrified of the dark that night, for it reminded him of the Weeping Angels. He wouldn't see those creatures for several more incarnations, but they still made him chill at the thought of them. How he missed home, either in Lungbarrow or on the Tardis, more so the latter than the former. How he missed friendship and family and love, another five years of torture were in store for him, so he wouldn't see any of these things again in that time. He dreamt of when he first met Phil and Lil and Chuckie. He dreamt of when Dill was born and their trip to the forests, in search of Looms. He dreamt of his first visit to Earth, where he found Chuckie a new mom. Then he dreamt of Torvic's head and he decided dreaming was not the right thing to do.

**London, 2005**

"Doctor, what he said to you in the Toyroom, you think he meant that you've been influence your whole life, by destiny? Welcome to the club, champ." The Doctor looked up and said "Why don't you do it? Shoot me dead. I killed Torvic and brought centuries of nightmares to the universe from you." "If Death had you for a champion, the Earth would not be standing here today. I know that the universe would be a very different place. You would never have married or had children. You would have been as lonely as I am." "You had Aillia." "You had Miss Grant." "Not really. I was still pining over your sister at that point." The Master laughed and walked over to the Doctor. They sat on the edge of the grave together as the Doctor cried. The Master whispered into his ear "Never cruel or cowardly. Never give up, never give in. You are the Doctor. You are Tommy Pickles. You are my best friend in the whole of time and space. I love you. And someone once told me that the end is where we start from. What's say we do that, friend." The Doctor looked up at his old friend and said "Chuckie, you're back. I've missed you. I know it's you now. You always told me the way the real world was when I needed to know. Thank you, old friend." They embraced with warmth as the Doctor withdrew a blue flower with a red stalk and threw it onto the grave of Chaz and Kira Finster. "The end is where we start from, Chuck. But I'm sure going to miss the beginning." And with that the two friends walked off back to the Tardis, the Doctor and the Master, no Tommy and Chuckie, bestest friends forever once more. Some days, even the pigs can fly.


	19. Lost Sons of Gallifrey

**Morrigan, 2021**

A desolate wasteland if ever there was one. The Rani was not a woman accustomed to treating with the enemy, but she had to. A year of conquests and capturing planets throughout Mutter's Spiral had led the New Time Lord Empire to this planet, Morrigan. A planet of carrion, cowardly creatures who used mercenaries for everything, regardless of it being negotiations or warfare, they always had macho idiots with guns to sort out their problems. The problem was Morrigan was a planet they needed to secure for the fleet. The new leadership had been leading a pathway of conquest and destruction for the last twelve months and Earth, their primary target, was all but subdued. They had come from beyond their timeline, but had a distinct familiarity to them, no matter how alien they truly were. The Monk suspected they were the Ferutu, the Time Lords of another universe, who relied on magic as opposed to science, or perhaps Time Lords from a parallel world where the Daleks were destroyed by the Doctor at their creation all those years ago. Whatever they were, they were far more primal and instinctive than them. These things had two hearts, four limbs and a head, at least that's what they thought was under those things. Black helmets befitting the Predator creatures were on top of these other "Time Lords", with red eye slits, through which could be seen a darkness without end once looked into closely. The Rani had a terrifying feeling these creatures were their future, or a cousin branch, experiments from the Time War. They had one distinctive difference to the Time Lords, apart from some of the leaders, individuality was non-existent. All the soldiers were the same build, height and had very few discernible skills or talents. They were a clone army. The Rani feared there was a battalion based off of her out there in this army of millions, or her brother, or woe betide them, the Doctor, considering his impeccable war record.

"Don't stare, Lillian. It might react, you saw what it did to Narvin's face," the Monk cautioned his sister by squeezing her hand. They were on a ship just landed on Morrigan, an attack ship from the Fleet from Beyond. A War Tardis, it seemed. At least that's what they liked to think. They were going to meet a team of mercenaries who travelled the stars to make peace terms or kill, since the government of Morrigan had gone into hiding, leaving the various habitation areas across the planet ripe for the picking. As the old Earth saying goes, "When times get tough, the tough get going." Her brother was right to caution her. When they were on Draconia, Narvin had approached one of the new soldiers and asked him to provide refreshments to the dignitaries of the Emperor, his ear was immediately severed. He had regenerated since but the scar was so deep, the ear only partially grew back, as if the power and makeup of these creatures was beyond regeneration. They were a Time Lord's worst nightmare it seemed. Mortality, those who live for centuries are more afraid of death than mayflies who live for a day. These monsters had capacity befitting species from the Dark Times, their power could kill a Time Lord, stone dead, if they hit the right place. The ship they were aboard had seating for soldiers similar to a human helicopter, but it was dimensionally transcendental, unlike said vehicle. It was just her and the Monk, both wearing the same garb they had donned before New Arcadia. He in a blue sweat shirt with jeans and a green t-shirt. She had her old traditional battle gear on, pink high heel boots and a white top with black trousers. They had staser guns from their childhood in the revolution in each of their pockets. "I know, brother. Why did we ever ally with these monsters?" "They would have destroyed us…made us no better than the Doctor in the eyes of our people."

Then the signal came from the other side of the planet. A flare from deep within the forests of Morrigan, as if to say "Come here to talk, and die." The red light of the flare made the Rani think of bloodshed, it almost made her feel less afraid. She was a tough woman, there was no denying that. But these soldiers would cause even a Green Lantern to succumb to base fears. She remembered fighting in the slums of Gallifrey in her young adult years against Morbius, how afraid she had been then. She and the Monk always managed to counteract each other's fear until they grew out of it in later years. A sibling relationship that had withstood the test of time. In their adult years, neither truly connected. In times like these, they returned to one another, times when the universe need unity. Their lives apart could never provide that. Following the light, they went into the forests with the foot soldiers, the Singulars, as the Monk had come to call them. Their singularity had defined them, their action in tandem with one another led him to give them that name in their branch of the New Time Lord Imperial Armed Forces. They made up the bulk of the army, but their lack of imagination made them less efficient than the Monk and the Rani, except for killing. These forests were old and decrepit with nothing of interest to them. When you lack bravery, innovation and imagination don't exactly come naturally. Whatever about the average creature who finds terror in the new, a craven culture can lead to little development or discovery, both scientific and natural. Morrigan is a planet of cowardice. But what they did have in abundance was rare minerals from their mines, their ancestors had found such minerals whilst burrowing for a hideaway from their Sun, which they feared would give them freckles, or worse, sunburn. These minerals paid for gunmen and other essential services from offworlders thanks to these minerals.

In a clearing within the Bland Forests, lay a gang of thugs varying from human to Cyberman, Gond to Astrian, Zeon to Trakenite and Dravidian to Daemon. And one Time Lord. The Time Twins certainly couldn't believe it to say the least. It was the boy they had held with his sister in a swaddling cloth all those years ago. The son of the Doctor. Phillip Pickles, the second twin of the Pickles twins, younger twin of Lillian. They had been named after their godparents, born nine months after the end of the revolution. They had received news long ago of this boy's death, back just before they left Gallifrey. He went out exploring, told his parents he'd bring back treasures and stories beyond their wildest dreams and show them the universe, do what they never did. He had died on some planet in a battle many years ago. "Philly? Is that you?" The Monk's words caused the boy to look up in recognition, he had mismatched eyes, the left one was brown and the right one was green. His twin had been the same in her first incarnation, only with a green right eye and a brown left eye. His brown hair he had inherited himself, similar to the Metamorphagi of Earth's wizarding world, a colour he had chosen wisely. He was a man of average height, probably only about twenty years old in human terms. Skinny, but yet strong. He had a ray gun befitting an AK-47 strapped to him and a grenade belt. He liked to mimic the soldiers of the Vietnam War in his clothing, the Rani could have sworn the boy was Charlie Sheen in Platoon.

"What? I heard we were treating with time-sensitives but not my own kind. I know these two well, they're my godparents. They're Gallifreyan. What the fuck are two Gallifreyans doing on Morrigan? And who are your friends, they look quite…feral?" The Monk and the Rani rushed over to embrace him in a bear hug. "Oh, Philly, the centuries have been too far apart." "It's been five weeks since I left home for work. How are my parents? How's my ex by the way, I sort of…we had a…thing…" The Rani looked at her godson with a smirk and said "She had a daughter who ran away to explore the universe with your elderly father in later years." Philly laughed and said "No, really, Auntie Lil. What truly happened?" The Monk then placed his hand on Philly's shoulder and said "We need your help in giving us something. It's a prism of energy that the Morriganese have. We promise not to level the planet and massacre your troops if you give us said prize, boy. There need not be any bloodshed here today. You might be able to go home and raise that daughter. Do that for us. It would be our honour for you to walk away from here today, Phillip." Philly looked the Monk dead in the eye and said "You two are greater fantasists than my mother and grandmother. My father and Uncle Dil are less of stargazers than you. The Morriganese demand you surrender or we will enter open conflict with your armies." "Is that all you and your friends are offering, dear?" "Yes, Lil. I'm sorry." A staser blast to the chest knocked Philly to the ground. The Monk fired a flare skyward upon seeing his sister eliminate their godson.

Behemoths descended from the sky, giant masses of silver and black shot down from above as green bolts of energy struck across the planet. The Singulars, at this point, were picking off every mercenary in sight in the forests. The Monk and the Rani managed to secure Philly and began to cart him off to the War Tardis. He cussed at them as the forests burned like wildfire all around them. "You ingrates! What is happening here? Why are the Time Lords attacking Morrigan?" "Because, our people died at your father's hand." Then from out of the trees came a Singular brandishing some form of weapon, a spear with a blade on either end of it, befitting the weapon of choice of infamous Sith Lord of many aeons ago, Darth Maul. "Stand back, he's a Time Lord. We are saving him. Stand back." The Monk was now brandishing his staser which was set to kill at the Singular. The Singular moved about on its hind legs sniffing the boy and said in a dark chaotic voice the Rani had never heard before in all her lifetimes "He come with us, we make him like us. You want save enemy, enemy become us." The Monk sighed and prepared to hand Philly over to them as the boy protested "What does he mean become like them? Uncle Phil, what are you doing?" The Monk was crying now as his sister screamed back "No, he has to go back to Gallifrey. To his family." The Singular roared at her as he marched off with the boy, "He one of us now, he singular." The Singular then scuttled with the boy in tow back to the War Tardis.

Aboard the War Tardis, the Time Twins found an operating theatre, one befitting the Daleks on Skaro or the experimentation centres during the Time War on Gallifrey. Philly Pickles was strapped to a chair as he was raised up with chemicals entering him via an intravenous drip. He was muzzled as it was clear he was screaming in agony. His eyes saw his godparents as he looked towards them for mercy, then it was clear he was dead, as the screaming ended abruptly. Then one of the dark helmets placed itself over his head as robotic hands made an incision into his brain. Inside the helmet could be seen a spike of radial energy which went through the incision into his brain. It was as if they were reactivating the dead. A suit of armour was placed onto his body as he was released. He slugged off past them as they watched in horror at what their godson had become. Enraged, the Monk looked at one of the soldiers and said "What are you? What are you really?" The soldier looked at him and said in that most disturbing of voices "We are the Lost Sons of Gallifrey. Returned to avenge our mother, and we need all the help we can get, just like you…friend."

The Monk was in his chambers aboard the War Tardis later that night when his sister came to speak with him. He was sitting in a chair drinking whiskey as he watched films of their home planet. He then picked up a microphone and said "Computer, show me the landscape of Morrigan." Dust and debris could now be seen on the computer screen, the planet had been vaporised. "Perfect, and it's the right distance from Earth. Tell us, Computer, how the grand plan goes on Earth itself." The planet could be seen on the screen now, the planet they had been waiting for. In a split second, the continents could be seen moving closer and closer together. The Monk smirked and said "This was the new masters' idea, sister, not ours. We wanted to conquer the planet, they want to ravage it. Is this what the universe has come to? What our people have come to?" "It is necessary, brother. For the survival of our species, for the restoration of our supremacy." The Monk swivelled in his chair and gave his twin an accusatory look of sheer malice. "He was like a son to you. He was the best thing that ever happened to us. And they filleted him, sifted his brain and made him the equivalent of a Dalek. That's what they are! You heard them! Lost Sons of Gallifrey! The Daleks were an attempt to survive the end of life on Skaro, maybe this is our future…they are to us as the Daleks were to the Kaleds. And Philly's one of them now!" The Rani held up an urn before her brother "His parents will be wanting his ashes. I found some regeneratory residue left from his death, we can send it to Gallifrey…to Tommy and Kimi. They'll need some comforting." "Why would we want to comfort him?" "I said Tommy, Phillip, not the Doctor. Our friend. Our oldest friend. And what of his mother, the woman we left on Gallifrey a wreck, with a selfish cripple for a husband. Will she not need some solace?" The Monk dismissed her with a vulgar wave of his hand and resumed thinking. The Monk. He had stopped calling himself that, but he felt he had to when he saw the new masters. They were both terrified. "We were good friends of Tommy's once you know, Phillip. It would be right of us to send them something of a reminder of their son that we killed."

The Monk nodded as he asked the computer had they found the prism. Deep within the mines of Morrigan there it was, pure jethrik. Jethrik which could fuel an army for the attack on Earth. They would need it, Earth's current situation meant they needed all the help they could get.

**The Catacombs, the Citadel, Gallifrey**

Tommy awoke in a haze, coughing up blood. The torture had gone on for a whole 21 hours yesterday and still he had not relented in all the five years he had spent caged here. His leg felt so weak from all the acid injected into it, he thought it might never recover. His eye was bloodied from his many beatings by the servants of Morbius. Docile idiots, only reacted to orders. Was this what would become of Howie DeVille one day? He had heard talk that Howard was dead, but he didn't believe it. He always listened to those comms channels, always the same. The Voiceless Others increased in strength day by day, that comforted him as it made him realise Chuckie must be alive. The rest of the Finster clan he heard nothing of. But he could distinctly see Chaz at one point in the cell with him. He thought it was a trap to get him to confess, but he wouldn't talk. He feared more for his brother, Dil, an academy student who must have graduated at this point, if he was in a government job, then Morbius would be able to destroy him without a second's thought. Tommy resolved to only break if someone's life was directly threatened. His family seemed to be ignored however, more so his friends were focused on by the torturers. Morbius must have realised Tommy had disavowed them before he left. That had been five years ago. He had been in this cage for five years and he had not yet broken. His dreams were always pleasant, maybe that's what kept him going or the thought of dying painlessly one day. Every second day they would come, to give him physical pain. They had mainly tried to damage him psychologically. He knew what this place was though, Room 101. When he spent a night with the Devilles once he heard Howard speaking of it in his sleep. The little shop of horrors for all Gallifreyans. Where your nightmares came to life. His had been hard to find. Drowning, yes that scared him, but only if he was actually drowning. The same for dying or convulsing in agony or something unpleasant in general. Tommy didn't like to think of all the things that could harm him when he wasn't being harmed, only when close.

This morning was a special one though. He was being allowed a visitor. He didn't anticipate this day very much, but in hindsight he would grow to appreciate it, out of regret. Into his cell, stepped his cousin, Angelica, in a regal attire wearing high heels which made her appear a foot taller than Tommy. Tommy was still chained to the wall, eating some small animal, he didn't know what and he could care less as the food here was so terrible. His eyes were very much bloodshot, as if the lack of sunlight had damaged him, he was very pale as well. One of his legs was very clearly tarnished beyond belief, as well as the foot on the other one which was missing a couple of toes. His fingernails were like talons and he had a beard down to his bellybutton. His nose had a constant streak of blood running from it and scars could be seen on his hands. Scars that looked purple. Angelica felt her cousin's chest with a stethoscope, and saw that only one of his hearts was beating. It had gone kaput and her cousin was still sitting there, blissfully unaware. It probably wouldn't reactivate until his next regeneration.

"Angelica, would you like to play with us? Here we have…we have…binkies and Reptar." "Snap out of it, Tommy, you're twenty one years old, for fuck's sake." Tommy received a slap on the face from his cousin and shook himself awake before saying "Ah, it's you. Come to gloat on behalf of your lover." Tommy looked at his cousin with an air of curiosity, particularly towards her abdomen. "You're pregnant, five months. Morbius has another heir for the Voiceless Others to deal with it seems." "The Imperator is awaiting another son, now that I have given him one and a daughter in your absence. The Bloodline of the Imperator will continue for all eternity, until we consume the universe. Gallifrey shall truly be feared in the heavens under my son. I've been paying the Voiceless Others all along you see, with the help of Quences and Grandpa Lou, they've been murdering Morbius' descendants and thereby clearing the way in terms of succession for mine." Tommy laughed and said "Gallifrey is not a monarchy, Morbius will be stripped of his powers once the war against the Sycorax ends." Angelica had to laugh at that "The war is over and he's still Imperator, we've begun a new war against the Union of Allied Planets in the 25th century since then. Our people have triumphed, under Morbius. He intends to hold a triumph in the Capitol next week, and you will be Exhibit A. An executed rebel, for all to see. You'll be hanged from the rafters after you confess to your crimes and disown yourself." Tommy laughed and said "Do you think Uncle Quences will tolerate that? He holds the balance of power between the Great Houses and if I, of all people, are executed. Then we'll deal with Dil and Kimi and your son." Tommy looked Angelica dead in the eyes and said "I have a son?" He then grabbed his cousin's stomach and struggled to stand up before saying "Then I'll take yours." Tommy was holding a hot iron he had kept in his sleeve on her pregnant stomach. "Screw you, treacherous bitch." Angelica's screams of pain could be heard in other timelines as the iron burst into her stomach and broke the lining of her womb forcing her into labour.

The guards saved her as labour was induced by the prisoner. He spat at her and said "Touch my son and I'll come after your boy when he's born, trust me." This was a monster that was once her cousin of that she was sure. The day of the triumph came within a few weeks. Tommy was placed on a parade float in the centre of the Capitol bedecked in chains. The populace were all around the street of spit. He couldn't really recognise anyone in the audience. Above him was Morbius hiding in a dark solar with Angelica by his side. It was clear the First Lady of Gallifrey had been shunned for his niece. Angelica had survived the birth but the boy had been born a monster. Tommy regretted doing that by all accounts. He had been tortured inexorably for five years and seeing his cousin gloat at him was distressing enough to make him do that. They had cleaned him up before releasing him, making him look a little less mistreated than before. His black eyes were covered and he was given respectable clothing, less filthy and more young and vibrant. He had not grown in the cells due to the damage to his spine, so he looked shorter than before he had gone in, say about five foot five inches. He had been given braces for his legs to walk straight in for before he was hanged. On either end of him were two Chancellery Guards carrying stasers. Tommy didn't even react to them because he couldn't stand the sight of either of them. They had heard his screams for five years and he had begged them to help him and they did nothing. He forgave them because he understood their position, but that didn't mean he had to like them.

The Capitol now had a statue of Morbius erected alongside Rassilon's in the City Centre. Here the parade goers made their cheers more vibrant and energetic. Some of the girls blew kisses to Tommy and others threw their knickers at him. He felt like Jack Kerouac, before the booze took him and he started fucking guys, including Gore Vidal. These human figures Chaz and Azmael had taught him so much about over the years. He'd miss reading their works. Vidal's Palimpsest is a book he'd recommend to any and all Time Lords, much better and honest than Catcher in the Rye, in an autobiographical sense. Vidal's historical novel, Julian, had inspired him to reject religion when he was very young. He thought worship of the Menti Celesti immature and had stopped visiting his Hermit friend after reading Julian, he much preferred the Hellenistic secularism advocated in said novel. Even his mother's native Earth religion of Judaism disillusioned him, not because of the Jewish characters in Julian, but merely because it was almost like an elderly version of the mainstream religions. The parade came to a halt before the idol of Morbius, as the Imperator's voice could be heard echoing across the city. "Peoples of Gallifrey, rejoice. The Sycorax and their armies have been crushed in the galaxies of the Outer Rim. Now the Union of Allied Planets are experimenting in time travel and telepathy. We must crush them as we did the Racnoss in the Dark Times. But before that, we must realise we are Time Lords. The government and the loyal people have mastery of time and space. Now, I bring before you a boy who is not a Time Lord, in anyway. He is an abomination of our people, a rebel. He calls himself a Voiceless Other, but I ask you, for those who are without voice their bullets are known throughout the land. This city is awash with the blood of those who have become familiar with said bullets. I intend to make this reprisal, by executing the boy who tried to bring the Celestial Toymaker to our world with two deceased operatives of the Voiceless Others, Rallon, the so-called Hero of Low Town and Millennia of the House of Brightshore. The surviving boy in question, ladies and gentlemen, is Tommy Pickles of the House of Lungbarrow. A boy who has been kept prisoner for reasons concerning public safety. He was spying for the Sycorax. Inviting them to "liberate" you." A gasp ran throughout the crowd at the mere mention of such treason. Tommy was brought forward by the two guards as the people began to boo and throw things at him. Not as nice as knickers, however. Tommy merely closed his eyes and imagined his son. He had asked Morbius before leaving for the execution was his son safe. Morbius assured him that the baby would not be harmed. He had made an exception with the Pickles family not to target the entire family, due to the influence of Tommy's great-grand uncle. Tommy dreamt of his son every night after Angelica told him of the child. He imagined the boy would be like Kimi and himself in a lot of ways. Reckless, foolhardy, but kind to a fault. He hoped the boy would be happy. He probably would be, if Kimi took him off Gallifrey.

Around two years ago, he couldn't tell, Chaz had found him. He thought it was a hallucination and called the guards, suspecting foul play. Chaz escaped easily, Tommy always suspected that man was hiding something. He doubted Chaz was in the Purists, though it wouldn't surprise him. He was the perfect enemy for them. Human wife, adopted human daughter, a collection of artefacts and paraphernalia from Earth history. Tommy still doubted it though. He wanted to ask him but he felt that might never happen. He had seen no one he recognised as he passed the areas where his friends lived. The DeVilles, the Finsters, his family. The Carmichaels and Dil were the only ones he saw. Dil looked a little ashamed as he saw his brother brought forward but Susie was resilient in saluting him in full view of everyone. Tommy smiled at her and then looked straight at his brother. Dil winked at him through a tear in his eye. "Would the traitor like a few minutes to make his peace with the people of Gallifrey? I may be an Imperator, but I am not a monster."

"Oh, but you are, dear leader. You are the greatest monster standing her, you are worse than the Daleks or the Jagaroth of our legends. You are a behemoth of evil. I have spent five years in dank and dire cells beneath this city, in the Catacombs. I have lost two toes, had the other foot mangled, my spine beaten and my leg injected with acid." Tommy ripped one of his trouser legs off and the damage to his leg was very much visible. The veins were purple and the bones were clearly sticking out. The crowd gasped as Morbius replied with "An insane man's folly. He got those from the Toymaker or the other gods and demons he consorted with. Sycorax prisoners are known for those brands." Tommy laughed and said "The Toymaker let me go, believe it or not. He said I would return in my later years to present a greater challenge to him. Which means I live through this day! But still, if these are my last breaths then know this, Imperator! You are twisted! You have raised people on the belief that they are safe and you are their saviour. Gallifrey is rotten to the core and you are the disease that causes such festering to even occur."

Morbius looked at Tommy, the rage was very apparent in his eyes. He looked so angry. That kind of passion wouldn't be seen in the Pickles boy again for another good few regenerations. Morbius merely waved his hand and the Chancellery Guards placed a noose around Tommy's neck. Tommy began to cry and said raised his eyes up to the sky. He could distinctly see the twin suns of his planet setting on the horizon. Dusk, what a time to die at. He then closed his eyes, thought of his son and then his friends and their childhood and smiled.

He opened his eyes after hearing a loud noise about 200 metres to the north-west of where he was standing. Standing before him were the two Chancellery Guards lying dead as Phil, Lil and Chuckie were stood before him kitted from head to toe in black. "No time for questions, T. We've got a five minute window of opportunity for us to get you back to base without being seen. Dil's bomb plan went down a treat." Phil grabbed him by his cuff as Lil set the coordinates in the transmat. Chuckie was fighting off Morbius' bodyguards and aiming directly at the Imperator shouting "Die! Die! You will never take Tommy from us! Never!" Lil then left a device which looked suspiciously like an anti-matter bomb on the floor as she called Chuckie back for the escape. "Lil, don't there are innocent people here." "And there will be more at the next triumph. If we kill Morbius now, there won't be one." Before Tommy could protest any further they were in a dark room. It was like a military command centre, with giant view screens everywhere. Tommy wondered what had upped the budget of the Voiceless Others. Then he saw him walking out of the shadows. "Pandad, you swine. Chuckie how could you?" Pandad Solo, leader of the Purists, and an equal to Morbius in Tommy's eyes stood before them. He was a short man, not much taller than five foot, with broad shoulders and a uniform befitting Napoleon Bonaparte. "I'm a swine. I have not been AWOL for the past five years, unlike a certain member of the once proud Deca." "What became of the Deca?" Chuckie buried his head in his hands as Lil brought Tommy to the medical wing taking him away from Pandad and the others.

"T, Borusa was arrested shortly after the graduation. There is no Deca anymore. We all had to go into hiding. When you were in the Toyroom, we had to have our hands burnt to remove the tattoo. You've been gone a long time but you must admit, Gallifrey has not improved since you've gone. The economy has gone downhill thanks to the war. Infant mortality is on the up and Gallifreyans are forced to move to the Capitol. The population in the slums is at bursting point, which drove us out effectively as police activity increased in the area. We looked out there and the only people we could find willing to help us were rival rebel organisations, like the Purists. It looks like we may have to file for a coalition when this is over with. The people don't truly support the Purists, all they want is a revolution. The Purists coming home, however, has led Morbius to start attacking our less vocal supporters more though. Chaz Finster left us contact details for each and every rebel sect across the galaxy. Friends of the Sycorax, Pythia worshippers, traditionalist conservatives, social democrats, we have an army here." Tommy was dumbfounded as his friend brought him before the staff doctor who gave Tommy a shower and gave him some crutches and an injection of painkillers to dull the pain indefinitely. "But where are we, Lil?" "The planet of Hades, out several miles from Gallifrey. A desert planet, we built a hut atop here where people pretend to live on our behalf. Nice family, bit simple minded for my liking. Just in case the Time Lords get wise to us." Tommy was shocked and then he asked, "So what of us? Our friends? Our families? What has happened since I've been gone?"

Lil put her head in her hands and said "My parents are dead, Tommy. Chaz Finster fled with your dad's help. Your parents live but under the yolk of Quences. Kira and Kimi are safe on Mount Perdition. Kimi would have joined us but her…traumas have been worse of late. The recent war with the Union of Allied Planets has gotten her edgy. She was invaluable in the early days before our relocation, though. Do you know about the baby?" Tommy looked a little embarrassed. "Yes, it's a boy." "Tommy Pickles Jr, in fact." Tommy gasped "Does Quences know about him? Is he safe? Is she safe? What traumas?" He had his hands on Lil's shoulders and began to shake her. "Tommy, it's okay. They're okay. We've made sure of that. Kimi…left a while ago…she went to visit these people. She was gone a whole year. She came back and she was different. She started acting as if she knew…the truth about everything. Kimi knew about you without even asking. After a while, she kept saying we should rescue you. We didn't even know if you were alive. She went to find you herself, then the first of the traumas hit her. Convulsions among other things overcame Kimi's entire body. A coma that lasted a week was the next thing, and then the next week she tried again. She needs help, T. I think solitude is the best thing she can have. She has her mother and her son with her. We'll reunite with her, when we can get her help." Tommy sighed as Lil brought him to his quarters on the far wing of the base. The base was vast to say the least, to vast for Tommy to comprehend. He went to sleep that night wondering about the world and the future. He worried about Kimi and his friends. Chuckie and Phil barely acknowledged him even though Lil reassured him Chuckie had wanted them to rescue him since the start. Kimi was clearly the least changed by the experience but the others were darker to say the least. Tommy hoped that when this revolution was over they could return to normality. He hoped. He hoped for the sake of his son.


	20. Et Tu Medicus?

**The Tardis, 2020**

"Whimsy! Look at me, Chuckie, I'm a explorer! Wee! Yipee!" "You're fucking embarrassing yourself. I was wondering when the post-regenerative trauma would hit in. Of all Time Lords, it has to be you to still get that." The Master had just had a mud pie thrown at his head whilst he was inspecting the Tardis console. Regenerating back into his first incarnation had been odd to say the least for the Doctor, he never normally repeated patterns. The odd circumstances of his death might be the reason he had done so, if he had regenerated like any normal Time Lord instead of that turbulent one from the battle with Death, this would never have happened. Now he had thrown his pants off and was running around in his underpants and throwing things at the Master, whenever he got an opportunity to break out of the Zero Room. The Master wouldn't materialise the Tardis out of fear of what would happen if the Doctor went back out into the world. Sooner or later, with the help of Zero Room technology, he would be alright. The problem was he was acting like a baby, or a former lobotomy patient. His youth had resurfaced and his body was beginning to reject the road to maturity. The Master knew this was Death's final curse. She had driven his friend insane. Well, more insane than a lunatic who uses a phone box to travel in time would normally be.

The Doctor had taken to sucking his thumb and picking his nose with his toes at times. If he would ever come into the console room it would either involve something very slapstick or a complicated recollection of events. "Say, Chuck, do you remember when we rid Reptar through downtown Paris? The amount of minds the CIA had to wipe that day! Good times…Hey, Chuckie, by any chance do you recall that time we fought Angelica for falling stars…Yo, Chuckay, do you remember the time I wupped your ass with your own mind machine…" As you can see after a while it devolved into less friendly recollections and more the Doctor bragging about his many victories over the Master. "Say, Thascalos, remember that one time when you made me old and I defeated you by ascending into the form of an angel. Some BBC executive or a David Tennant fangirl must have been masturbating on speed, when they broke in and changed Russell T. Davies' scripts. Good times, good times." Every other occasion largely involved the Doctor throwing pies and other less appropriate devices at the Master.

Eventually, the Master decided he was well enough to bring him to a civilised time zone, to be hospitalised. If he had sent him earlier it would have been like when Owen Harper met Captain Jack Harkness whilst his girlfriend was having brain surgery. The Doctor had been leaving him alone as of late. This trauma only activated within him after they left Earth. The Master couldn't understand but the Doctor passed out at the console saying "I can feel them…all of them…screaming my name…screaming…some want my blood…others my help…we have to go back to…back to…2020…before it's too late." He realised his friend needed help after his regeneration mainly. Since the Doctor had abandoned him, the Master could hear his voice echoing throughout the Tardis in loud whispers, speaking of the end of everything among other things. The Master felt in his pocket and found the detonator, pulling one of the wires, he successfully disarmed it, as if he would have done it. His evil side had been waning even at that point. But as he looked at the harmless detonator, he thought of the endless screams of every one of the Doctor's friends. Their death throes from the sheer agony of being crushed into a singularity. Their inevitable demise which would reoccur over and over again, thanks to the timelessness of the explosive device. He thought how satisfying it would be for that to happen. Then he realised that what he was doing was wrong. He looked into his reflection in the console pillar and hoped to see Death, hoped that this wasn't him thinking this way. But all he could see was himself grinning inanely. Flinching, he threw the detonator to the ground and stomped it into nothing. He thought about telling the Doctor when he was sane, but decided against it. Whatever was causing this was his own demons, no gods and no drumbeat, and he needed to address them sooner or later.

Regaining himself, the Master headed for the console and set the coordinates to London, 19th July 2020 at 20:30pm. The Doctor entered the console room with his trousers on his head and his shirt on his legs. "Uh, Doctor, are you sure this trauma isn't over yet?" "Poppycock, Chesterton."

"I'm the Master."

"Chesterfield?"

"The Master."

"Peri? Dodo? James Robert McCrimmon? The Terrible Zodin?"

"The Master."

"No wait, I know your name now boy. It begins with an M, doesn't it?"

"Yes, the Master."

"I've got it…" The Doctor grabbed the Master by the shoulders and, shaking him, exclaimed "Mrs Roosevelt!" "No!"

"MacGyver?"

"No!"

"Malcolm in the Middle?"

"No!"

Well, who the fuck could your possibly be then? You're not that insufferable redhead who tried to get me to drink carrot juice? Or that little fat boy who died to stop the Cybermen?" "Look, it's gotten to the point where I'm anyone, Doctor," the Master said with his head now in his hands "but I will cosplay as any of your companions…any of them…except that snot nosed fuck, Adric!"

"Now listen here, Adric, you go and clean your room, you little shit. You may be a teenage maths genius but you really are an insufferable little…tu-u-u-u-r-d!" The Doctor's last words were taken out of his mouth by the violent shaking of the Tardis. It was like a Lionel Ritchie music video. The Master struck the console and the Doctor received a large mark on his forehead from falling a floor below. "Are you okay? Doctor? Tommy? Please tell me you're okay." The Doctor walked up the stairs this time wearing new clothes, a red chequered lumberjack shirt with a white t-shirt underneath, blue jeans and a pair of Adidas runners. The lumberjack shirt had plenty of pockets sewn in with a new sonic screwdriver looking more like his childhood screwdriver. The Classic Sonic Screwdriver, with a little choice refinements. The Master stumbled around blindly, barely able to see so the Doctor placed a pair of glasses on his face. "Whoa, thanks. That actually helped a lot more than I expected." "They suit you, Chuck. Make you look more sinister and devious, except when you smile. You still look too friendly to pull that off anymore."

"How did you recover from your post regenerative trauma?" "You mean the Body Blues? Oh yeah, whatever chronic disturbance that was sorted us out. It's almost like I never regenerated. My body was unstable, but this disturbance appears to have somehow altered my makeup so I'm back on my first incarnation, more or less. I was trying to have the same body but it just wasn't quite perfect…though thanks to that turbulence my cells have been altered enough so I'm completely like my 25 year old self again, except I still have two working hearts. And your eyesight was turned back to how bad it was in your first incarnation. Since I've just regenerated it clearly affected me more." The Doctor began checking the Tardis console. The Master stood up beside him and said "How did that happen?" "I'm a bit too afraid to try again because the Tardis will definitely blow up killing us both. It had to go five years into the future to find a safe spot to land. There we go 19th July 2025, London at half past eight in the evening."

The Master looked at the doors and said "Why can't we land on Earth? It's just fucking Earth! It's not like we tried to land inside a black hole or anything?" "Oh no, it's much worse than that, if I'm right." The Master looked at him dumbfounded "The Earth has been put into a different time. The Tardis draws power from the universe, from the Eye of Harmony to be exact. Since it's the last of its kind in the universe, well it kind of is the only remnant of time and space. The Earth has somehow been made a complicated space time event since we've left. The Tardis can't land because it wouldn't be able to draw power from the world around it. Earth is either in another universe or time and space have found a new anchor, distinct from the Eye of Harmony." "Tardises are so complicated. I'm a Time Lord and I don't even get that." "Me neither. But Earth is a no Tardis zone in this time period, even though I've been here before. Odd that. There has to be some damage and we've got to find out what. Are you with me, Chuck?" "No." "That's the spirit, now come on." The Doctor pocketed his sonic screwdriver and rushed out the doors in a mad dash. The Master rolled his eyes and proceeded to follow suit.

**The Panopticon, Gallifrey**

Skulking in the shadows observing Morbius make a speech were several Voiceless Others, preparing to strike, when the moment was right. Morbius was holding a debate between himself and the heads of each political Chapter. All their familial Kithriarchs were in his pay, except for Quences whose selfishness and family pride kept him on the fence. The neutrality of Quences allowed him to attend the debate. Quences was accompanied by the ever faithful robotic manservant, Badger. On the podium was Morbius bedecked by adjutants Grimes and Worm. They were toadies who encouraged him in every step he took. Their death or survival would have had pretty much no impact on anyone. Azmael stood near them proud, as if to demonstrate that he was the only one Morbius would never persecute, no matter what. Angelica could be seen in the upper stands surrounded by Chancellery Guards. Morbius was holding a Senate meeting as well, which meant all representatives of different constituencies across the planet and colonies was present. Morbius had called the meeting in order to bring an end to the violence and have a nationwide sweep of the colonies for the Voiceless Others, or at least that is what he claimed.

The Voiceless Others had reason to believe he was going to unveil a master plan to solidify his regime for all eternity, and that now the time was ripe for his death. He had survived the attempt on his life through a decoy but this time they knew it wasn't the case. An inside man on the CIA had hunted down each and every temporal duplicate of Morbius' and destroyed them. Any lookalikes they found themselves and dealt with. This was the genuine article, of that there was no doubt. He even had the look of insanity that no actor could pull off and even Tommy could confirm that, as well as Pandak, who was also present. Tommy, Chuckie, Phil and Lil were all skulking in the shadows, awaiting a sign or a falter from Morbius. At this point, he was preparing to speak. He was wearing the traditional Presidential robes, whilst all others wore similar robes, particularly Quences, who was ever so proud of his increased power. Morbius looked down on all before him with an air of defiance. His plain face betrayed nothing, with unflinching emotion very apparent, as he began to speak.

"Great Senators. It is my greatest privilege to announce today the beginning of the Empire of Gallifrey. The Union of Allied Planets persist in scheming against us, with their telepathic warriors, but we have the advantage of rebels, browncoats as they call themselves, pledging their allegiance to us, to Gallifrey. This is the dawning of a new age. We who control time and space have had so little control over its inhabitants for so long, that now is the time to reach out and seize said control. We could rule every galaxy across the stars, erase species who dare to cross us and mould the universe in our image. There are those of you who think we should continue our peace as would be gods, who choose to observe. Well, I have seen the future of our people…" The crowd gasped at the thought of such a blasphemy, that the President had committed a carnal sin and travelled into the future of their own people. "You may think me a sinner, but I have been appointed by both gods old and new and their superiors, the Guardians, to rule us. And rule us I shall! We are not like them! We are beneath them! They are the ones who choose to play with us while ruling from afar in another plane of existence. Time is our realm, and we allow so many to live freely in it without contributing to their lords, or even obeying us. We curb development of time travel in some species, but in most it is inevitable. The Daleks developed it long ago and humans will have it sooner or later. I say we crush this Union and then with the resources of them and our new vassals, the Sycorax we can rule time truly. To do this, we will need good strong leadership. I announce an end to all purges for our dreams to come true. Only the destruction of the Voiceless Others shall continue. We need allies in our cause, allies who will lead our government and mine has been so inconsistent of late that I have deigned to appoint my old friend, Azmael, as my Deputy Imperator, a man who has dedicated many of his regenerations to the education of our youth and a fine job he has done of it. Now, duty calls him as it will call us all. This is why I propose that every male on Gallifrey under the age of 700 of fit body be placed in training camps across the continent of Still Plains. They will learn how to fight for our people until the universe is ours. The continent of the Lying Winds shall be renovated into a large industrial estate where all those who do not qualify for the military shall be placed in work camps to produce for the economy of our empire. Wild Endeavour shall remain the home of the Time Lords, with all Outsiders being purged and sent to the mines with the northerners. Breeding quotas on each labour camp, mine or training facility will be quadruple the cousin rates of the Great Houses in that generation. We need to be able to outnumber all other species when we subdue them. As for the leadership, I think now is opportune to proclaim myself more than just Imperator. I am Emperor of Time and Space! I am a god born as a man! Many thought you I was the son of Salyavin, our most infamous son and a beautiful maid of House Dvora. No, my true father is Rassilon himself, returned to his people! I have come to do my father's will and that is to rule time and space, with our people behind me, every step of the way. And when I pass on, my children shall continue the bloodline and rule time and space to the End of Time and beyond!"

The Imperator was clearly laughing maniacally at this point as there was a worried discussion among the crowds. They dared not say no. He had become too powerful and too insane to defeat now. "I object, you insane cretin! Son of Rassilon! Empires! You should have been shot or poisoned years ago, like all the sane Presidents who wanted positive change before you!" Morbius looked up with an evil in his eyes befitting a serial killer. "Who dares speak against their Emperor? The gods shall punish you for such insolence!" A young Senator walked up who was not wearing official robes. Instead he was wearing a cowboy outfit with a bandolier and everything. Tommy realised he must have been wearing a perception filter. He was clearly a Senator judging by the sash he wore around his right forearm. Tommy recognised him as Vansell, he had gotten a lot taller in the past five years and his hair was longer, and the French demeanour really wasn't apparent. They were all positioned in the shadows, he and Chuckie to one side with Phil and Lil to the other. He looked at Lil and said "You never said he was a senator or that he was part of the plan." The rest of them were just as shocked as he was "This wasn't part of our plan at all. This guy is part of something else…something bigger…no one would be that confident in front of Morbius…least of all Vansell." Morbius was about to strangle Vansell, until he saw a knife being removed from the young Senator's belt. "This is for our wives, Rassilon!" And without warning he plunged the knife into Morbius' chest. "You can't kill me! I'm a god! I'm a god!" Several more unnoticed Senators wearing eccentric clothing walked up to the President and drove a knife into him. Tommy had heard of this story before, it was by that bisexual nonce from Earth his father had told him about, Shakespeare. He had written something like this, about a people called the Romulans and their leader, Jesus. This was how Jesus died in Earth history. They were mimicking Terran history. Recognising this, Tommy turned on Pandak. "They're copying the history of another planet. They're mocking Morbius for accepting other cultures. This had to have been a Purist plot." Pandak looked at him and said "What are you talking about, I've never seen such a fucking stupid thing. These guys are probably just disgruntled politicians."

Morbius now lay before his assassins his garment bloodied. Angelica could be seen gasping as she was seized by the Chancellery Guard. It was clear they were looking forward to killing her or worse once this coup was over. Tommy reacted and ran up the stairs, hoping to save his cousin, despite everything she was still family. His friends decided to remain where they were on second thoughts. Morbius was looking at the crowd, blood running from his mouth. Regeneration was beginning to occur. He outstretched his hand to the crowd for mercy but all he received was spit from the other Senators. Then Azmael placed his hand on Morbius' shoulders and lifted him up. Grimes and Worm had been seized by Vansell and a few of his cronies. Morbius looked his old friend in the eye and said "Come Azmael. To a new dawn, a new empire. Come with me, friend. Please." Then his throat was slit without a second's warning by Azmael. "I'm sorry, Morbius. You brought this upon yourself." Morbius reached out in death to his friend and said "You two, Azmael." Whilst running for his cousin, Tommy noticed how unoriginal this assassination felt.

Then, Jelpax, another former member of the Deca could be seen emerging and standing over Morbius' corpse, proclaiming "Today is a new chapter in Gallifrey's history. The Age of Freedom begins now. Democracy for all! The tyrant lies dead at my feet whilst my people walk freely beside me. Hail freedom! Hail liberty! Hail…ughh!" His heart had just been ripped out by Grimes who had done similar in a split second to the man holding him. "I never said I was dead. My watchers are still here. Did you think I never anticipated this? I trust no one. Which you my friend should never have done either? Guards!" The two guards holding Angelica fired into the crowd killing stray Senators. Vansell and Azmael managed to escape before the doors were shut but the rest was a bloodbath. No one else survived, apart from Grimes and Worm. The Voiceless Others remained in the shadows, withdrawing their guns and firing at the two guards. Angelica fled, so Tommy elected to follow his erstwhile cousin. Grimes and Worm looked at the advancing rebels and said "Don't think we didn't see you whippersnappers in there. Ah, Koschei the Deathless, I presume. I've been waiting for this meeting for a long time now. My decoys never shut up about you on their deathbeds." He spoke through Worm's mouth this time. Lil raised her eyebrow before asking "You're dead. Even if you do have Watchers that doesn't mean you could still be alive after Azmael's stabbing. You've cheated somehow. Was that even you in that body, making that speech?" Grimes answered her question "Yes, but I have transcended the need for regeneration thanks to constant cloning and mindbending. My mind can enter any other with ease, Ms Deville, particularly in the moments of death. I need a quick getaway though. So I keep brainless idiots like these around me all the time." The two were clearly former lobotomy patients of the Morbius regime. They were slightly short and very skinny and gaunt. They were identical apart from hair colour, Grimes had green hair and Worm had dark blue hair.

"I based these two off you both. I liked to torture your father by having them with me every time I was around him. How he used to squirm when I would slap them," he responded through Worm this time. Phil cocked his staser and fired at Worm who keeled over dead from the blast. "There's still me, Phillip. Heh heh heh," Morbius chuckled through Grimes. Chuckie raised his hand to Phil who lowered his weapon, ashamedly. Chuckie looked up at Grimes and said "So, Emperor. We have you now, you have no guards nearby and we can just kill you here and now. Grimes is your last host and there's not one of us here who can't resist your techniques. If you were expecting us then you really should have thought through killing all those senators." "Fair point. But only this version of me will die." "Don't tell me you have a Resurrection Plan B up your arse too?" Grimes drew a folder from out the back of his trousers which said Resurrection Plan B and said "Yes indeed and don't think of capturing me because then you'll just have one of many Morbiuses in your base, now won't you." Chuckie looked vexed at that. "So what should we do then, guys?" Lil looked him in the eye and said "I suggest…maybe we…run." And with that the Voiceless Others fled as Morbius cackled, but as the rest of them left, Lil remained behind. She turned to Grimes and asked "Why did you kill my father? What did he know?" "Nothing that no one else in his office knew? I just thought it would be funny to watch that video of him squirming and writhing like an idiot as my men dealt with your mother." Morbius cackled gleefully as Lil primed her weapon and obliterated Grimes. She looked at the remains for a brief moment and said "That's enough vengeance for one day, Lillian." She then ran after her comrades.

Tommy, on the other hand, had followed his cousin deeper into the Citadel. She had fled down several floors and gone past several mysterious doors, he met very few guards whilst pursuing her. Eventually, she came to a service lift. She went in but Tommy rushed in before the door closed. "Oh, if it isn't my bile of rat shit for a cousin. Don't think I didn't see you following me? You're a man of many talents, Pickles, but stealth isn't one of them. Abortion certainly isn't either. I had my son by the way." She noticed how mysterious and brooding her cousin had become. Surgery had nearly perfected his back and whilst he struggled he managed to stand taller than her, even though he could barely stand from his injuries. "I heard…a mutant boy. What did you call him?" Angelica looked up at him and said "Thomas." Tommy had to laugh at that "Well, your warped sense of humour hasn't left you it seems." "And it seems you've developed a penchant for aborting babies at five months. I wouldn't make a career out of it if I were you." "I nearly kill your baby and all you can do is make jokes about how I failed. That's not even cold, that's just a broken hearted person pretending to be a villain." Angelica laughed maniacally and said "My son is strong…so much stronger than you. He is Morbius' son. He is the Great One's offspring. He is my son. He is pure of blood and of heart. He is pure of strength. He truly is a child of the gods. Morbius and I were made for one another. Only one child of the gods, with a name implying angelic qualities, would be worthy as his consort." Tommy looked disgusted at how manic she had become. Was it what he had done to her that had made her so unstable? He knew she wouldn't admit it, but her silence on the matter and clear mania were enough to show Tommy he had become a monster, just like his friends. "Your uncle…you're fucking your uncle…and by the way, cuz, I'm sorry I hurt your baby…but know this. I am only sorry for that. I'm fucking proud I made you insane! I'm fucking proud I murdered all those people fighting for the Voiceless Others and I'm proud for killing my enemies and saving my world from Morbius. You speak of Morbius as if he lives, which is why I've followed you. You're taking me down to this crypt or wherever we're going and you're handing over your lover boy to me, so I can finally kill him before I die." Angelica looked him in the eye and said "Morbius will never die. The sky will rain blood on the day our glorious saviour dies." "Forgot to check the weather this morning, doll, but I can guarantee some showers of O-negative in the north, with some clotting spells throughout the day." Tommy then put some sunglasses on as the Who randomly played for some inexplicable reason. Largely due to the sheer cheesiness of that one moment. If Angelica wasn't his cousin there probably would have been a Titanic moment then.

**London, 2025**

The Doctor was sitting on the remains of a car on the streets of Shoreditch. The skies were brown with dust, exhaust fumes from some things up in the sky, or a collapsed ozone layer. Many believed it to be the end of the world. The Doctor knew it was because space had left them, as well as time. The Earth could be seen from space, but time was on a different level on the surface of the world. The inhabitants could only see a dead universe. The Master walked towards the car as the Doctor took a bite from an apple in his pocket "What is this, Doctor? How can the Earth have changed so much?" The Doctor said "We must have given something access to this universe when we were on the Ark. Something from beyond our world. The prophecy said we would save the universe from the new lords of time. I may be retiring but I guess one last threat to existence to beat them all will be enough." The Master laughed heartily. "You'll never give up now." "And why not, I've pretty much restarted life. Maybe I could be a botanist? Or a politician? Or a philatelist?" "You'd shoot yourself before you became any of those things, old friend? You're a renegade in a police box, nothing more, nothing less." The Doctor stared at his apple and said "Why not? All this travelling has led to long periods of loneliness and thankless heroism. One grand finale will be enough for me. Whether I live or die today will be without consequence. Maybe it's time the Doctor died and the Philatelist be born." The two friends chuckled to one another at that and then the Doctor leapt upon his old friend and they hid behind the car.

Patrolling the streets were two mysterious looking strangers. The Doctor noticed them from out of the corner of his eye. "Singulars, I remember them from the Time War." "What are Singulars?" "Creatures I thought died a long time ago. Like so many things I think are extinct they prove me wrong every time. Bugger." The two Singulars began sniffing around the car as the Doctor brandished a custard cream and leapt out before them. "Silence, Singulars! I have in my hand a biological agent which kills all augmented biology in my proximity." The Singulars backed off and made threatening poses. "Get behind me, Chuck! Right, now I will activate the device unless you answer my questions. So, what are you doing here?" The darkest most chaotic voice which sent a shiver down the Doctor's spine in memory of the Time War. "We came to harvest the Earth!" "Harvest it for what?" "Time. Raw time energy." "This is Earth, a Level 5 planet, with very little to do with the rest of the universe at the moment. There's no raw time energy here." The Singulars laughed and said "Like you said, it's augmented. That means you'll blow this place up if you use the device. We know of you, Doctor, and you would never do that." "Well, I'm not that scared since it's just a custard cream…Oh fuck. Chuckie, when I say, run, go and find a corner over ten miles away and cower and don't even breathe." Throwing the custard cream to the ground the Doctor and the Master ran like hell to the right. The Singulars let out howls like wolves from beneath their helmets. As the duo ran down the street they could clearly see the beasts on top of the damaged buildings beginning to pursue them.

"I don't remember them from the Time War, T." "They were very late in the day, Chuckie. They were prisoners of war augmented by the Daleks. They had been processed to betray us, but upon recapture we brainwashed them against the Daleks. They're the most unstable creatures in the universe, and they want to kill us, so we should be very afraid now. Towards the end, though, they turned on us, let the Daleks take Arcadia. Our whole planet nearly fell to the invaders because of them. They hate our people just as much as they hate the Daleks, if not more. No wonder they want to kill us." London was a mess, all the debris scattered across the place was evident and fires could be seen from the monuments even now. "I've seen this city during an occupation before, but this is off the scale." A Singular then pounced on the Master's back from the rooftop. "Chuckie! Let him go, you wank stain!" The Singular fired a blast from its ray gun at the Doctor as it proceeded to strangle the Master. Then as the Doctor lay unconscious. Shots rang out as voices could be heard saying "Get out of our city, Gallifreyan scum! This city belongs to the resistance and your masters know it." The Singular fled, realising a stronger opponent had claimed its prey. Men and women wearing hoods and carrying large energy guns walked before them. "Never seen these two before. Must have escaped some mines and made it here to work with us." "You're an idiot, Langer. How could anyone escape the mines, there's nowhere to go for miles, the countryside is all but destroyed, it's all their turf. No, these guys must have come from the sewers. I knew there must have been some people down there." A black boy whom the Doctor recognised despite his semi-conscious state as Clyde Langer, Sarah Jane's old protégé could be seen flipping off his friend. "Yeah, sure Bob. Sewer mutants coming out. Or are they the Manson Family and they think fucking Helter Skelter's over? Jean-Claude, what's the situation with these two? They alive?" The man leaning before the Master had a broken French accent and seemed slightly familiar, though not quite as recognisable as Tommy. "Non, mon ami. Not quite. This one got the brunt of the attack from the monster, so I think it is safe to say…he is doomed. I will do a scan now and see, eh chere?"

No, the Doctor thought, he can't die, they had to stop the new lords of time. The Singulars. The Doctor had to destroy them. Then Clyde and Bob picked him up and tossed him into what appeared to be a military truck. He was being carted off by military thugs who seemed to be his only salvation from bloodthirsty Singulars. This day couldn't get any worse. Oh fuck, now that he thought that it was bound too. "Mon dieu. Boys, we got ourselves a prisoner here. He has two hearts. A Time Lord. And one of the masters, too. Must have been a rogue Singular. We're taking him and his companion to the bosses." Oh fuck, how he hated when he was right.


	21. 2025: A Time Odyssey

**London, 2025**

The truck ground to a halt outside an old warehouse which looked to be at the end of a motorway. Well, the forced end of a motorway. It was clear it had been destroyed by whatever force had invaded with the aid of the Singulars. The Singulars were just foot soldiers, lapdogs for whoever had done this. They had taken the Earth by force somehow, the Doctor could pick up space/time disturbances in the air around him, but whoever did this would need extraordinary amounts of impossibility on their side. On the horizon beyond the motorway vast dirigibles could be seen working on something. The countryside had vanished. The Doctor took a look down over the motorway and realised that the countryside had been burrowed and that the Greater London Area had been hollowed. The city was like one giant island. The soldier called Bob noticed he had regained consciousness and offered him some drinking water. "No thanks, Bob is it? Tell me, are all the cities on the Earth like this?" "Most of them, the primate ones anyway. Not every city in the UK turned out like this, Birmingham was levelled completely and don't get me started on Glasgow. Just a slave camp at this point." The Master regained consciousness and the Doctor said "Does this remind you of anywhere?" "It's almost like the Year that Never Was? But that timeline has been completely negated, there's no way the Tardis could have landed there." Bob raised an eyebrow and asked "So you two are time travellers then? With a Tardis? I feel sorry for you then." "Why?" "'Cuz we've got to experiment on you now, don't we?" The Doctor raised his finger and said "Now Bob, you seem imaginative and a funny guy by all accounts and you're compassionate, that's what's important about you. So please, let us go."

Bob gave them a daggered stare before saying through gritted teeth "You lot can give me back my planet then. My home. My family. Fuck you and your compassion." The Doctor put his hand on Bob's shoulder and said "That's not the voice of a killer, that's the voice of someone who is very scared at the moment. And well you should be. It's the end of days out there. Just trust us. We're not like the Singulars, me and old Thascalos over here. Eh boy, you can trust us. Hmm?" Bob reacted to the Doctor's words with a start. "Thascalos?" "Well, that's one of many names for him. You wouldn't like to know his one of choice. It's not very tasteful to tell someone who's scared that, I don't think. Particularly if they happen to have a loaded gun." Bob then spoke into his walkie-talkie after pulling said gun out in a hurry. There was a mad gleam in his eyes. "Langer, Jean-Claude. You're not going to believe this. We have the Master prisoner. The Master." The Master stood up and repositioned his glasses. "How do you know who I am?" Bob stood up and said "Sergeant Robert McNulty, sir. Joined UNIT on 12th June 2014 and was involved in archives, sir. If I may say so, sir, I could write a book on your exploits. It is an honour to capture you for your imminent execution, sir." Bob then raised his energy gun at the Master and said "The Master is on our most wanted list in the rebel groups, sir. His execution upon capture is demanded, as he is deemed too dangerous to be used as a tool by the invaders, sir." The Master put his hands up in fright, looked at the Doctor and said "I knew you'd be the death of me, ever since we were kids. So long and thanks for nothing." The Master closed his eyes as the Doctor pleaded with Bob saying "Now Bob, I know you're scared, but we can help you, both of us." "Sorry, but I am afraid your friend is a dead man. Any last words, Thascalos?" "Eat shit and die, you hairless ape." The Doctor started biting his fingernails as Bob prepared his weapon, out of fear for the life of his dearest friend.

"McNulty! What on Earth are you doing?" a Welsh voice blared before them as the Doctor saw a familiar black haired woman with an eye patch and a leather jacket leave the warehouse. "Gwen Cooper! Never thought I'd be glad to see Torchwood." "Bring the prisoners in here now, McNulty!" "Ma'am, this is Thascalos. It is our imperative to kill him before he can increase the threat from the invaders." "Frankly, I think he can do very little at the moment. Evil super genius or not." The Master lowered his hands and gaped at the woman. "Well you Welsh certainly know how to flatter an old Time Lord. Come on then, take us to your leader." The Doctor and the Master were directed into the warehouse. Inside were a bunch of soldiers armed to the teeth and looking quite gruff, they seemed to be wearing UNIT insignias on their uniforms. Gwen flashed some ID before them and they gave a signal to some form of security device on the wall. A trap door opened below them and the Doctor, the Master, Jean-Claude, Clyde, Bob and Gwen fell at least three hundred feet. It felt like they were going to die from the pressure before they hit the ground as the Doctor's lips nearly went up his nose and the Master's glasses fell off. The rest remained stock still. Then they were caught by an anti-gravity bubble. Now, the Doctor could see they were in some form of base, with an underground network deep underneath London. Not the Tube, but a military base. The Master hurriedly found his glasses and put them back on his face as Gwen prepared to address them. "Do you like it? A merger of C-19, UNIT, Torchwood, the Forge, etc. All alien intelligence operations across the UK have united here to combat the greatest invasion of all history." The Doctor took a good look around and then quipped, "And I'm guessing that would be a Time Lord invasion." Gwen looked at him and said "Well you would know that wouldn't you, scum. Now quick march, the Madame needs to see you. MARCH!" The Doctor and the Master began walking at a brisk pace through the corridors of the base, clearly terrified by the wrath of the Welshwoman.

Observing the corridors they could see alien technology unlike any other. This place was the ultimate hub of activity. Cloning machines could be seen to be used for some of the men. Time Vortex Manipulators were being experimented with, ray guns and the same energy weapons from before were being used for target practice by new recruits, who only looked to be about eleven or twelve. Orphans, the Doctor presumed. All the corridors were black with red lights illuminating the room. Cyber conversion technology which must have been salvaged from Canary Wharf was being used to reanimate dead soldiers. This place was a nightmare. "Who's in charge here?" the Doctor asked Gwen inquisitively. "You will speak when you are spoken to, invader." "Oh, Gwen, I thought Bob was much friendlier. Weren't you, Bob?" Bob didn't even flinch at that and so the Doctor said "Maybe I set the bar a little too high. Hmm?" Gwen then replied and said "That's Colonel Cooper to you, boy. Who are you supposed to be anyway? The Master's companion?" Clyde replied with "Scans say he's Time Lord as well, ma'am." "Another renegade and who might you be then?" "I am…the Postman." "The Postman?" "Yes, I deliver death to all my enemies very punctually. I am also the most feared Time Lord in the galaxy, the Master is an old pal of mine, and we were just meeting up to chat about old conquests and genocides. You know." Gwen stood agog before the Doctor. "That's a bit of a naff title for a great warrior." The Master stepped in with "All the ominous titles were taken by the time he came on the scene. Fear the Master, fear the Rani. Yeah, sure. But…fear the Postman. Well, you just don't know what this guy is capable of doing by his title alone." He then moved towards Gwen's ear and whispered "Ever hear of Genghis Khan?" She looked at the Doctor who started to make spooky movements with his hand as if he was pretending be a ghost. The Master looked back at her and made a shushing noise as they continued to press onwards.

Then they came to the grand chamber. The home of the Madame as she was known, the leader of the resistance. Jean-Claude spoke the password inaudibly into a microphone. The door opened and the Doctor and the Master could see a throne at the end of a great hall. At the throne was a woman with purple hair and designer clothing, her face was obscured by shadows. Beside her was a black haired man with a gun and a World War II trench coat. On the other end was a boy with brown hair and a tall blonde woman. The Doctor recognised them as Captain Jack Harkness, Luke Smith and Kate Stewart. "I recognise the advisors, but who is the Madame?" he whispered to the Master. "I don't know, but I have a sneaky suspicion I know her from somewhere?" The soldiers had taken off their helmets by now and the Doctor could see how they had aged. At the most Clyde could only have been thirty but he looked seventy with the scars on his scalp which strongly resembled wrinkles. Jean-Claude looked very familiar despite similar scarring on his face. The Doctor saw Bob was missing half his face as it was only a mask provided by the helmet he had seen before. The other side was all mauled and grotesque, whilst his remaining face merely had a distinct look of grief and depression upon it.

They knelt before the Madame except for the Doctor and the Master. "Who are these prisoners?" the Madame said in a distinct French accent. Gwen Cooper was the one to reply. "They are Time Lords, Madame. They claim to be renegades, which means they are not part of the main invasion force." "If they are renegades then they are to be executed before they can side with the enemy. Which renegades are they? Are they known to us, Major Cooper?" "The older one with the beard is the infamous Master, Madame. The younger one is known only as the Postman." The Doctor waved and said "Hello, you must be the Madame. Pleased to meet you. I'm the postman. Scourge of the Milky Way…" The Master gave him a dig in the ribs saying "You're embarrassing yourself with this fucking charade." Then the Madame emerged from the shadows so her face could be seen more clearly. The Doctor recognised her now. "Ah, Master, we meet at last. It is an honour, good sir to make your acquaintance. I'm afraid we will have to have you killed though. Such a waste, but necessary for victory against your people." At this point, the Master looked desperate. "What if I were to offer my services to you, Madame. I could make it worth your while. Time Lords are a fickle, unimaginative bunch. We renegades are the exceptions which prove said rule. We could defeat them for you. All I ask for is my life…and maybe my friends." The Doctor crossed his arms and gave the Master a filthy look. "Well, someone is not getting any tonight?" "Any what?" "Custard creams." The Master punched the Doctor in the gut knocking him over.

The Madame laughed at the Master's suggestion "Unimaginative? If you knew how they conquered our world then you wouldn't think so?" The Doctor chided in by saying in a winded fashion, "Tell me, Coco LaBouche, how did they?" The Madame stared directly at the Doctor, she then saw the age in his eyes and knew him by sight. "You…you are…the Time Lords I met all those years ago in Paris. Thirty years ago now. My, how time has flown. My old nemeses. Tell me what has become of your friends, little…" "My name is not important, I was the one with the blue shirt. My brother got vomit all over your top." Coco's eyes widened "Ah, now I remember you. The one who always got into trouble." The Master looked at the Doctor and said "Who is she?" "Chuckie, I would like to introduce you to the woman that would have been your stepmother." Coco was wearing a veil which she discarded to reveal cybernetic enhancements which made the rest of her skin appear younger than she actually was. "Oh, yes the mad woman from Paris. How are you leading the human resistance? You're nowhere near selfless enough to care." Coco then said "If you knew what had become of this world, Master, then you would be thinking otherwise. Computer, show them the history of Earth for the past five years." Then the immersion began. "Oh by the way, who's narrating?" the Master asked with suspicion. "Morgan Freeman." The Doctor jumped for joy whilst the Master sighed.

**A History of Planet Earth under occupation, 2020-Present.**

_On 19__th__ July 2020, the planet Earth received a time storm unlike any other. It was of a magnitude of 12 on the Richter scale. We discovered the Earth had in no way changed due to these seismic waves, and that the planet was healthier than ever. No one was forcefully aged backwards or forwards by the chronic disturbances…_

Doctor: We did didn't we, Chuck?

Coco: Quiet, you snivelling little postman. Listen to the history.

_Scientists attempted to explain away the anachronistic damage. Day and night changed completely. No one could explain. Governments sent expeditions in space shuttles, which ended up never returning. Earth was stranded. That was until the Rossum Corporation offered an alternative. The prospect of time travel for all peoples. They managed to market it through the face of a well-known hero, who was an unofficial spokesperson for the company._

Doctor: What hero was this?

Computer: Data Unknown.

Doctor: Well, you're just fucking wizard aren't you?

_Humans across the world bought time travel technology for very low prices from the Rossum Corporation. The owners of Rossum made a fortune until they all mysteriously disappeared one night, with one exception. Their spokesperson owned the most shares and assumed the position of CEO. He effectively became the richest and most powerful man on the planet within two weeks. This was by 26__th__ August 2020._

Doctor: That quick? Development must have been accelerated by centuries. This must be the equivalent of 500,000 years to you people.

_The spokesperson managed to secure the Republican nomination after the untimely disappearance of their former candidate in another time eddy similar to the one which disappeared the Rossum executives. The spokesperson became John Smith, 46__th__ President of the United States of America. Many assume the name to be fabricated via forged citizenship to attain the Presidency._

Doctor: If this guy's a hero, why did he have to change his name before he became President?

Computer: He had no name. He forged US citizenship through time travel. He became a paradox. It was merely a version of him that became President, he remained CEO of Rossum.

Doctor: Interesting, but idiotic. He was seriously damaging the space/time continuum there. Still, nice taste in pseudonyms.

_Different time travel duplicates of the spokesperson appeared across the planet, assuming positions of power. No one noticed as time eddies seemed to be a greater concern. None, except for a select few. The organisation known as Torchwood began investigating the man. He had his personal soldiers for hire eliminate them. They succeeded in eliminating Craig Owens and capturing Rex Matheson. Captain Jack Harkness, Gwen Cooper and Wilfred Mott escaped and gained help from UNIT. The other was the businesswoman famous for revitalising International Electromatics, a company of controversy from the 1960s once run by the infamous Tobias Vaughan._

Doctor: Yes, because he was helping the Cybermen invade the planet.

Coco: Shut up you stupid man.

Doctor: I was just thinking, Coco, whoever did that had to be an idiot obsessed with immortality and eternal youth. Computer, who was this woman?

Computer: Coco LaBouche.

Doctor: Oh…Please Continue.

_Madame LaBouche had survived the disgrace of being fired from the Yamaguchi Corporation in 1991 and forged her own company from the ashes of the 2008 global crisis. She and her assistant, Jean-Claude, began to grow suspicious of the time eddies and disappearances. Mainly due to augmentation from cyber technology, which prevented perception filters from truly working on them. They used their technology to improve injured UNIT soldiers as part of a deal struck with them against Rossum. A triumvirate was formed between IE, Torchwood and UNIT. Sarah Jane Smith assumed representative status for UNIT on the ruling council of the Triumvirate alongside Captain Jack Harkness of Torchwood and Coco LaBouche of IE. LaBouche was elected as leader for the front against the Rossum Corporation. This was on 17__th__ March 2021. The time storms, meanwhile, continued to occur and more frequently. The Rossum Corporation, who were given full responsibility of managing the time storms merely said our planet was becoming immune to time's effects. They were becoming the new lords of time, according to them._

Doctor: Computer, how was the free time travel used by the customers.

Computer: A survey was taken in early 2021 to ask how customers of Rossum used their time travel privileges. 95% said they wished to change history, 4% merely wanted to observe and 1% said they had more interest in the future than the past.

Doctor: Typical humans…So, no wonder Earth's been occupied by the Time Lords. Your planet has become one great big paradox.

Coco: Major Cooper…

Gwen: Mr Postman, sir, I will shoot you unless you shut up.

Doctor: Okay, jeez…Carry on, Computer.

_Time eddies were more and more common. Mainly people disappeared and became forgotten, time eddies became common natural disasters to the people of Earth. The Rossum Corporation's power grab had been successful to say the least. The CEO demolished most of New England and named it Chronopolis, heartland of the New Time Lord Empire. Many people suspected such an incident, but like so many others, they forgot their place and stopped questioning authority. The Rebel Alliance persisted…_

Doctor: Rebel Alliance? Ha! How very George Lucas of you. Oh sorry, continue…

…_in their dissident activities, they eventually seized control of Switzerland, one of few countries where private time travel was unpopular. The scientists in Switzerland had a connection to the Hubble Telescope, which had come to a system where the planet known as Skaro had once been. The sun there had a large white crack the size of a galaxy running through it, but it wasn't just a crack in time and space. It was a crack in the universe bleeding through. Leaking raw time energy from before the universe was created and after, changing everything it could or would have been. It made the universe…a very different thing to what it once was. A shadow of its former self, to say the least. The Telescope looked inside and saw, whiteness. A blank void. And the end of days. The Hubble Telescope also picked up a fleet waiting underneath Earth transmissions, deep within our solar system. A fleet of broken ships which had been augmented to fight and destroy. They destroyed the telescope and they seemed to have claimed several planets prior to Earth. They were poised for taking Earth and the Rebel Alliance were dedicated to stopping them when the day came that they would invade. The date of invasion would be 26__th__ October 2021. Meanwhile, in Earth's private sector, the Rossum Corporation controlled 99% of the entire stock market without question. Their only remaining opposition in the private sector was International Electromatics. The time eddies continued to plague Earth throughout the year 2021. Then, a time quake occurred._

Doctor: What's a time quake?

Computer: A time quake is when several timelines or periods collide during a time eddy or storm. The various paradoxes which involved people erasing themselves from history or altering their past meant the space/time continuum was holding onto Earth by a thread. This time quake was the last straw for the peoples of Earth.

Doctor: Oh good, continue then.

_This time quake was the collision of the 18__th__ century AD with the 18__th__ century BC all on top of 2021. Men with ray guns fought Jacobins and George Washington as well as Mycenaeans and Ancient Egyptians. Time travellers battled their primitive ancestors. Bloody battles raged on for what felt like an eternity but was only five minutes. The solution of the Rossum Corporation was to nuke the past, which they did. That was a bad move. Soon, there were no more paradoxes and time had all but ceased to be on planet Earth. Everyone was a living, breathing paradox. No one knew how we sustained ourselves as all scientists not paid for by Rossum said we should be dead. Another effect was time began to pass even quicker than before. Soils became more infertile with each passing minute of every day. Soon famine and drought were widespread. Mankind could not sustain itself. So they turned to Rossum for answers. And on 26__th__ October 2021, Rossum invited aliens to our world. People were rejoiced at the prospect of foreign aid. But they weren't just any aliens. They were the New Time Lord Empire._

Doctor: New Time Lord? But that's not possible. Computer, did these Time Lords originate from the planet Gallifrey?

Computer: Some, the vast majority have origins unknown due to augmentation of species. Some have Skarosi DNA combined with Gallifreyan. Others are a mystery. Many of their warriors were from other species altogether.

Doctor: Continue…

_The invaders put many people to work in factories producing armaments and building arsenals of machinery. Time vector generators were produced to stem the paradoxes and anchor Earth. But not only Earth was anchored, the entire New Time Lord Empire came under the influence of being in a new time stream, anchored here by various time vector generators built across this planet. The Rebel Alliance held Switzerland for as long as they could and escaped to London thanks to Madame LaBouche's armies from IE. Geneva was reduced to rubble. The New Time Lord Empire placed soldiers known as Singulars across the Earth to guard it and appointed the CEO of Rossum as Governor of the Earth, their jewel in the Diadem of Time. He rules from Chronopolis. His first order of business was to turn ocean and countryside into giant oil rigs and mines respectively across the Earth. Several cities with large populations were left intact for the factory workers and primarily the factories. Pollution eventually blotted out the sky, brown smoke covered the horizon. Years passed, weeks and then on 27__th__ March 2024, London was attacked by various rebel groups in concert and successfully taken. Sarah Jane Smith sacrificed her life capturing the "Mayor of London," a vicious tyrant who has been imprisoned by the Alliance since that date. London is divided into three sectors: one controlled by I.E.-UNIT-Torchwood Alliance, another controlled by the Free Time movement, who wish to restore private time travel and the Children of Time, who wish to restore the original timeline in the name of the Doctor and other benevolent Time Lords. The Rebel Alliance on the other hand wish to commit genocide on all Time Lords, renegade or otherwise, thank you for paying attention and I hope you have enjoyed the history of our world since the time storms. We do hope Madame LaBouche makes your death swift, except for the one who kept asking questions._

**The Rebel Alliance Base, London, 2025**

The Doctor's mouth was agog. The Master's face was unflinching, but it was clear he was crying. Gwen and Jack had a look of sympathy on their faces. The Doctor stood up and addressed the leaders. "Some of you people know me well. I've saved this Earth so many times. Please, let me help. I'll do all I can. Please." Coco laughed "According to Major Cooper, you two are both bloodthirsty renegades who delight in evil. It will be my pleasure denying the New Time Lord Empire your assistance." The Doctor then shouted "But I'm the Doctor. Listen to me, Madame LaBouche, there is no Time Lord called the Postman. That was just a clever lie so you might not kill me. I can stop this." The looks of sympathy vanished at the mention of his true title. "Jack, Gwen, Clyde, Luke…you all know me. I've regenerated but you all know me. Please…help me…save you." "We gave up on you a long time ago, Doctor, if that is you. Five years and not one sign of you throughout this whole disaster. We'll need proof you're the Doctor and that you're here to save us, otherwise you and the Master are dead. And you'll be lucky if we still spare him," the Doctor turned round to see Captain Jack Harkness looking at him with sheer accusation. "Computer, you have cameras in this entire sector, correct?" "Correct." "Then focus on Totter's Lane, Shoreditch, there's an old junkyard there. Take a look in there for anything that wasn't there before today." Then on the screen appeared a blue police box.

"That proof enough for you, Captain?" Harkness merely grimaced in response. "What took you so long?" "All the time eddies and storms prevented me from landing here. Plus, the fact that Earth is essentially in another form of time and space, one my Tardis can't get energy from. It took a long time for me to make it here. Nearly blew up the Tardis." Captain Jack smirked and then said "That still doesn't explain why Pinky is travelling with the Brain?" The Doctor laughed and said "I don't know what you mean, but…haha." The Master turned to him and said "He's asking why you're travelling with me, Pinky." "Personal business, Jack. Curing his madness if you must know." "Hope there was a lobotomy involved." The Master leered at the man who was once cheesy. "Well, I can see the apocalypse has at least killed one immortal thing in your charm, Harkness." "Bite me, Four Eyes." The Master growled viciously before the Doctor turned to Coco and said "Well, we've got Jack on our side. We're your allies. Please, accept that." Coco shrugged and turned to Luke and Jack who nodded. "I suppose you can have a stay of execution, but only as long as you find out how to stop your people. Or at least point us in the right direction." The Doctor clapped his hands together and smiled with glee. "Excellent, excellent. Very well then, Madame, where do you keep your prisoners?" Gwen looked angered by this. "Madame, we cannot allow them to see the Mayor?" Coco silenced her with a flick of her wrist. "We will take you to the prisoner, we think you both should see them, in particular the Mayor. Come along, my friends. Jean-Claude, take them to Room 101."

The Doctor and the Master followed Jean-Claude into the depths of the base. He took them further away than they ever possibly imagined this base could go. "Who do you think they have prisoner?" "Obviously they're one of the New Time Lord commanders, if they've got them especially imprisoned? As to whether we know them or not…probably." They passed by cells of Singulars being tortured by UNIT soldiers. They screamed and screamed as their helmets were removed, revealing albino faces with one eye, as if they were Dalek mutants. The Doctor had remembered when he took one of their heads at the Fall of Arcadia. Then he felt sick and moved on with the others. Jean-Claude brought them to the final cell which had a big large door before it. "Only one of you can go in at a time. The prisoner is restrained, but slightly…how you say…unpredictable." "I'll go in, it can't be any worse than the last time I did this for a mysterious amoral billionaire whom I couldn't tell whether they were on my side or not," the Doctor volunteered in a most longwinded fashion. "When was that?" "Oh, I found a Dalek in Utah in 2012. Held by an American billionaire. Very odd Dalek as well. Needed orders desperately." Jean-Claude placed his hand on a palm scanner and the door opened. The Doctor walked in. The room was very dark apart from the apparent figure of a man being held together by energy clamps, his hands were completely consumed as well as his feet, by them. The man's face wasn't quite visible in the shadows. "I've come to talk with you, we're both Time Lords. I can help you, if that's what you want. Make peace on this planet. Save everyone. We can rebuild our race elsewhere." "What is your name?" "Sorry, where are my manners, I'm called the Doctor." The man reacted suddenly and the Doctor could see a pair of brown eyes flash before him. "The Doctor?" "Oh my god, it's you…" Standing before him, chained by energy clamps before him was none other than the Meddling Monk. "Oh, I have been waiting for this day. The day this mindless invasion ends. The day you finally come back to us…Doctor. The day you come home."


	22. Morbius Falling

**Beneath London, 2025**

The Master and Jean-Claude looked intently at the viewing screen, having just heard the declaration of the prisoner's identity. The Doctor was backing away from their old friend with fear. The Monk had been scarred beyond belief, presumably by torturers working for Coco. He had one distinctive one running from his left eye all the way down to the lower right hand side of his lip. His body looked weak and the energy clamps kept him pinned down. The Doctor stared at him with a hint of malice then, regaining his confidence and swagger. "How did your survive the fall of Gallifrey? I made sure none of you resurrected semi-sane paradoxes escaped." The Monk spat blood in the Doctor's direction before saying "We are more Time Lord than you, hybrid. We were born to save our people, and the man who saved us once again deemed Gallifrey not fit to survive. This would never have happened if you had just died with the planet. We want vengeance, Doctor. My sister and I have hunted you since we escaped Gallifrey. She had a Type 90 hidden there since our 3rd century. And there are others…more of our people, longing for vengeance." The Doctor laughed and said "So the Rani lives, does she? Typical. She never went down easily, I suppose, like so many of my enemies." The Monk laughed and said "But yet, Doctor, your friends and family drop like flies. I killed one of your companions when she came at me…Miss Smith, I believe. She incapacitated me though…so I ended up here. A prisoner with such charming hosts…" He rolled his eyes and spat out another globule of blood.

"What was that meant to mean, Monk? I have plenty of allies, I'm sure. These Children of Time, for one." "I meant the day I saved you and your granddaughter from the Dalek Time Controller and you thank me how? By telling me to get out of your presence because people had died, just like any other day." "Not just anyone had died that day, Monk. I lost my great-grandson and more importantly…Lucie. A dear friend to both you and me once upon a time. And in case you forgot we lost Tamsin Drew that day, the love of your regenerations if I'm not mistaken." The Monk frowned at the mention of his beloved Tamsin. The Daleks had exterminated her because she was with him and the Doctor in his archive that day. They took the Doctor prisoner whilst he grieved. He had led the Daleks to Earth that time, but didn't realise the error of his ways until her death. What a fool he had been. "Touched a nerve did I monkey boy? Tell me, why is Coco keeping you alive? What could she possibly want from you, you're just a renegade Time Lord after all, like me and the Master, but yet she's determined to have our heads?" The Monk looked up and smiled showing he was missing a few teeth. "Doctor, doctor, doctor. I am a leading official of the new regime. I governed London, and the only reason the city hasn't been reduced to a slag heap is because of my presence here. No power on Earth can stop my sister or me when it comes to protecting one another." "So, the Rani is the leader of the New Time Lords." "No, you could not be more wrong."

The Doctor then walked toward the Monk who was laughing again at this point. "Who is your leader then?" "If I told you, Doctor. You wouldn't believe it. It's just so ludicrous, even I can't comprehend their existence." "More ludicrous than the Singulars?" "Oh, by far. The Overlord was once flesh and blood but is now a creature beyond imagination or conception in any way, shape or form. They are a force of nature, to say the least. And the Overlord commands an army of millions of impossible warriors, all of them practically immortal." The Doctor then asked "And why Earth? It's inconsequential to you or this Overlord, surely." "Yes, but not to you." Realisation hit the Doctor like a punch to the face. He sat down on the floor in a heap of desperation. "You invaded to draw me in to your trap. So I could witness Earth falling…and then the universe." "Well, the original plan was to hold the Earth hostage with the Moment and a large army and release them in exchange for you, but then the Overlord took over and things changed. Earth became something far more important. A planet teeming with billions of apes and many resources. They thought it wise to make it an anchor for the empire." The Doctor then looked up and said "A new Eye of Harmony?" "Perhaps, I'm not entirely sure. But an anchor by all accounts."

"What was the Rossum Corporation to you?" "They were a company that before 2010, had the potential to change the history of Earth. In failing to do that due to timey wimey distortions, largely due to alien invasions preventing the ultimate takeover, we gave them an opportunity. We generated a time storm on 19th July 2020, hoping to trap you. History says you were famously on the Earth that day…" "Ha, you were a bit late to catch me." "Regardless, we did it. The Rossum executives were visited by my sister and the Hero to offer them a chance at time travel and they took it. And soon they were the richest company on the planet. So, we took control with the Hero. Captured them in a so-called "time eddy." He became the CEO, thanks to joint shares. Capitalism, such an overblown venture of these Earthlings." The Doctor paced up and down the lobby with his hand on his chin. "Who is the Hero? John Smith or whatever his name is…" "He is not one of us. But he's not from round here." "Well, he's clearly humanoid then." "Closer than that." "He's human? But not from Earth? Future human?" "21st century." "But he's not from round here…you make no sense." "Oh, I'm making perfect sense, Doctor. Just think about it. He knows you. He wants you more than us." The Doctor dismissed the Monk who laughed saying "Pig headed as ever, Tommy, it was always your way or the high way. Even when we were kids." "At least I didn't ravage a planet and enslave its people." "At least I didn't kill my own family for the sake of war." The Monk received a heavy blow to the face then. His lip split open and his nose broke. They then suddenly reformed. "How did that happen?" "I was regenerating when they stuck me in this thing, they've prevented it in me because they're trying to develop regeneration for themselves by harvesting my stem cells, to little avail."

"What other Time Lords survived?" "Several…me and Lillian, your brother, for a while, your dad, Romana, Narvin and a couple of others. Several million that neither of us know personally." "What killed my brother?" The Monk stammered and said "The Overlord. He was their anchor to this universe. The Overlord sent him to the Singulars when they were done with him. I tried to save him and got this for my trouble." He moved his eyes towards his scar. "A Singular gave it to me." "Sorry, Phil. Thank you. I've misjudged you it seems. You do have a heart, even if it is a black one." "Just get over the Miller girl and your great-grandson, will you? And I suppose…I'm sorry for that." "I never let the Daleks ravage planets after I released a virus upon worlds to cripple them, so I could get artistic riches." "And I never committed genocide." The Doctor didn't even flinch at that accusation. "I killed our people…yes. But I did the right thing."

"Pot…kettle…black, Doctor. If telling yourself that you did the right thing is what lets you sleep at night, then that's fine, as long as you're a little less hypocritical about it. If it's what stops the screams of our homeworld's children from echoing in your head ceaselessly. Saving you and your granddaughter and helping the human resistance is what helps me forget that I killed so many people with a virus. You know, I actually think of all other Time Lords, we're the most alike. We're neither of us monsters, even if we have done bad things. We're not like that monster watching us on the other end of the view screen. We're nothing like him…nothing like the Master, or my sister. Megalomaniacs, the pair of them. You wanted to see the universe, I wanted to give to it and get back an equal amount in return. The Master wanted to wreak havoc and ruin in his wake in a most pantomimic fashion and my sister was a dominatrix queen of solar systems who experimented with evolution and time constantly. You and I, we were just…we were normal. We were satisfied with the universe for what it was. Oh sure, we've both tweaked a bit here and there. Parts of history that interest us. But we're largely harmless to all things good in the universe." The Doctor remained silent and stared at his feet. The Monk looked at him smiling as some of his teeth seemed to grow back. The Doctor regained himself and said. "How could you possibly know the Master was there?" Laughing, the Monk delivered an icy stare towards the nearby security camera and straight at the Master and Jean-Claude. "I felt his eyes…undressing me…the way a psychopath would. Your eyes are caring, sympathetic…hateful. But harmless, all the same. I know when a monster is looking at me and that Frenchman is just greedy, and so is his mistress. There are no real monsters here, apart from my torturers, but they were killed in the last battle, so no there are none. Not even me. And I'm the one locked in here. Come in, monster. Come in and play with us. We're waiting."

The Master stood up and looked at Jean-Claude, as if to ask whether he should go in. "Only one at a time, the Madame's orders." "He won't cooperate unless we're both in there. You stay observing, I'll be five minutes." Jean-Claude relented and gave the Master access. Entering the cell, the Master could see the Doctor was still standing there and the Monk was clearly whistling. "Ah, so you deign us with your appearance? Good show, finally I've got someone else to beat and molest me for the rest of my days." The Master looked at him and began to stammer. His lip was trembling as he struggled to speak. "I'm different now…Mortimus…just leave me alone." "You don't look so different to me, Master. There's still a wilfulness in you that can't be tamed. An urge to kill. I can see it in your eyes. You want to kill me. And the Doctor, you've been waiting for the proper moment, that's all. I see the way you look at him. The way a serial killer looks at a pretty young girl at peace with her innocence and the beauty of the world around her." The Master put his hands over his ears and screamed "Shut up, you liar! That is not me. You're the monster, you fucking ingrate." "Oh, language Timothy. You and your stupid hair. Brown really doesn't suit you. Neither did ginger, made you look like a nerd. And that camp way you always wear black, what is with that? Tommy, I'd be careful you've got a guy in black tights fighting against you. Oh, I've got it, the Artist Formerly Known as Prince is your arch-nemesis…"

The Master raised a gun to the Monk saying "One more word and I put a bullet in your head." The Doctor was stunned at how his friend could have such a familiar weapon. "Where did you get that?" "The Colt, Tommy. It's still got one bullet. Not even regeneration can save him now. Tell us about the Overlord, or I shoot." The Monk bit his lip. He was clearly terrified as the Dynamic Duo had him on the run. Die or relent? The answer was simple. "The Overlord rules from our Mothership over Mercury. It's a bipedal being, I don't know what gender, composed of antimatter. I don't know who or what they used to be, I presume a Time Lord or a god. I have no idea. Could be a manifestation of hatred and anger from across the universe. The Colt will most likely not have any effect on them, it can't harm antimatter, only matter substances." Puzzlement was now on the Doctor's face, as he drew closer to the Monk. "By any chance does the Overlord have any connection to Omega?" "I doubt it. They seem to have a knowledge of too much of our recent history to be him." The Doctor looked at the Master who merely shrugged his shoulders, then returned his gaze to the Monk. "The Moment…you said you planned to use it. Where is it now?" "On the planet Morrigan. I don't know the co-ordinates. You should be able to use a teleport base code to get there…though I wouldn't recommend going anywhere near it if I were you. The guard…you won't want to see him. And besides you'll both be executed soon enough, once Coco sees this footage she'll more than likely kill you both. I'd recommend going back to your Tardis." "What about you?" "I'll stay. She won't kill me yet. My sister will level this city in my memory if that happened and she knows it. Now go. There's an anti-gravity bubble right above us. It should take you to my old offices in City Hall. Go."

The Doctor raised his hand as if to say "Why are you helping us?" "Because if she kills you our whole plan will have been for nought. Believe it or not, the sides in this war are manifold and sometimes the least likely of alliances can be formed, or perhaps friendships rekindled." The Doctor nodded as the Master grabbed him and they both leapt upwards at the sound of Jean-Claude activating the alarm. No wonder Coco wanted neither of them there at the same time. She didn't want them both escaping. Soon, they were in the former mayoral offices, where a portrait of the Monk in a suit could be seen beside the other mayors. "Doctor, who is that blonde monkey in the painting?" "Boris Johnson. Now come on, there's no time. I wonder whose turf this is." "Uh, Doctor…" "Not now, Master." "Doctor, I think…" "Shut up, Chuck, I'm trying to find out where we are." "You're in the Children of Time's turf and you just delivered the Master right into our hands, Doctor." Turning round, the Doctor could see none other than Clara Oswald sitting behind the desk, armed to the teeth. She was holding the Master in a headlock with a pistol pointed to his head. "Oh, don't mind me, Doc. I'm just being threatened by a really sexy woman with a gun. It must be just a wet dream." Clara lowered her gun and fired a round into his toe. "No, not a wet dream…" And with that he passed out.

**The Capitol, Gallifrey**

Escaping the Panopticon, the Voiceless Others made their way into the streets. They had just escaped Morbius' attempted assassination and the massacre of the Senate of Gallifrey. Lil managed to catch up with her brother and Chuckie just as they reached the town centre. "I got rid of the last Watcher…better dead than alive. It will take a while for Morbius to find a new host now." "That's all well and good, Lillian, but now he has no opposition. They're all fucking dead except us and a handful of others. He's stronger than ever, no matter how much science suggests otherwise. We'll be dead sooner or later, sis. Our days are numbered. Isn't that right, Chuck…Where's Chuckie gone?" Chuckie had vanished from the centre. Lil looked desperately around for him. "He must have gone to find Tommy, or deal with Morbius or coordinate an escape. Whatever we do, we can't stop Morbius." Phil put his hand on his sister's shoulder and said "Listen, I know now, sis. We have to stop them. But we can't. Morbius is immortal. There is no stopping him and we both know it. Chuckie's most likely skipped town, did the smart thing, if you ask me." "How come?" "Tommy has the teleport controls…and he's still in the Panopticon. So we can't get back to base. I know right, pig headed or what?"

Chuckie had abandoned the two chatterbox siblings in favour of a better strategy. He had recorded everything Morbius had said in the Panopticon and it was just about time for the breakfast show on End of Time FM to begin. If he broadcast Morbius in all his gleeful insanity to the populace then riots would be widespread. People would march on the Capitol and demand his head, the High Council would have no choice but to oust him from office. Then the coalition could be formed with popular support and the Purists could finally be dealt with. The radio comms station was right in front of him, with two Chancellery Guards at the door. Morbius was always one step ahead of them, how could this be? He walked up to the two guards and said "Hey, did you guys hear? A bunch of young graduates from the Academy are bathing in the lake. Girls' dorm. Said they're looking for strong men with uniforms. There are some other guards got their eye on them though. I'd be careful those girls looks like they're in danger. Their shirts are all wet and…" The guards were already gone. Any humanoid heterosexual reacts in such a way to that kind of story, it is impossible. Entering the station he finally found the studio housing the Breakfast Show.

"Hey, Malcolm, it's me, Arnie Pie in the morning on End of Time FM. You've just won 5000 credits. What are you going to spend it on Malcolm?"

"My name is M'Butu. Please stop ringing my home. What do I want these credits for, you filthy American?"

"Okay, next caller. Hello, Michelle, you've just won 5000 credits."

"Who's this? I'm Dave. Or Denise. Depending on what clothes I'm wearing. So nice to hear a rugged man's voice…"

"Hey, kid. What are you doing here? Security. Ughhh."

Chuckie moved the unconscious Arnie to the side of the room and went to the microphone. Drinking from Arnie's mug he tasted good coffee straight from Wild Endeavour's finest and replied to the call. "Well, Denise or Dave, hope you enjoy that money. This is Chuckie Finster, denouncing End of Time FM, and beginning the revolutionary broadcast on all wavelengths. Now, do you people love your Imperator? Of course you do, because you're sheep. Employed sheep. Well, tell me this, now my good sheep and tell me no more. Can you speak? Is your voice heard? Are you one of us? My father was exiled for my crimes against the state. My crimes against the state, which amount to nothing compared to the crimes of the state. What have the state given you? Employment. Only employment. Full employment. But on what? Subsistence income, that's what. And working much harder than any of the High Council ever will. The Imperator must die by the end of today. If you ask me, it should have been a long time ago. I'm not asking any of you to do it, or anyone in particular. All I know is he will either be dead or disgraced. All I ask you people to do, is to let your voices be heard for once. And now, thanks to the technology of End of Time FM, every radio station on the planet is going to receive our Imperators' latest secret speech, free of charge. Once you're done listening, ladies and gentlemen, feel free to express your opinion. Thank you and I have been Chuckie Finster. Please sit back and enjoy the dulcet tones of our Dear Leader…" He inserted the recording into the broadcast feed on the computer which caused Morbius' voice to echo across the Capitol, loudly.

Phil and Lil could hear the raving lunatic in the Square. "Chuckie, you genius," Phil said putting his hands together. Lil jumped for joy, whilst Pandak grimaced, hoping for more bloodshed. All of a sudden the Chancellery Guard surrounded them saying "You're all under arrest for the crimes of your gang." "Read us our rights, you cunts!" Lil shouted back at them, arms raised. "You have no rights! Only the right to die!" The Guard Captain then fired his staser at Lil, injuring her. "That's my sister, you fucknut." "Ooh, I can't abide foul language. Down, boy, down!" Phil received a similar blast to the gut from the same staser. "Fuck, fuck, fuck…" Lil was unconscious and Phil was vomiting blood at this point. "Fuck, those things pack a punch." The Guard Captain then waved his hand in a downward motion and declared "Unless the rest of you move, you'll end up just like these two. I said move! Men, shoot another one. What? What are you staring at! Ahhh!" On the back of his head was a Kaled mutant, it appeared to be consuming his entire head, it eventually engorged his face and consumed his entire body in one big gulp. "Atta boy, Extermopuss! Hack, hack!" Phil laughed through coughs of blood. Extermopuss dodged the fire of the as it latched onto another. His co-workers left him to the mercy of Extermopuss. "Heel, boy!" Phil said when his pet had finished eating the guard. Extermopuss wrapped itself around its master's wound, sucking out the energy. "Good boy, now go get Lil. Help her," he said before passing out. The remainder of the Voiceless Others picked him up and escorted him away. It was at this point that Morbius' speech ended.

"Well, here comes the end. The end of so many things is today. Finster, you genius," Pandak said as he observed several disgruntled plebeians climbing from their homes. They were armed with stasers, stones, anything they could find to kill someone with. Soon, the guards were on the scene. Those who refused to side with the people were beaten or killed. Some were lynched in the streets. Cries of "Take my kids to army camps, lock me up in some factory! Over my dead body or yours, Morbius!" or "Madman, I tell you, madman. Never voted for him," or, who could forget "Death to Morbius! Death to Peinforte! Death to Lady Angelica!" The fighting lasted well into the small hours of the morning. Houses burned to the ground, high class Morbius loyalists were rounded up and shot by the people, show trials were held for any loyalist politicians still around and guards who fought back were given the taste of mob justice. Some gangs of rioters were so vexed that the children of the loyalist families had their fancy clothes stripped, who were then sent deep into the slums of the Capitol, where they were expected to live as orphans, whilst their parents were slaughtered and the family riches plundered. It was Pandak who became the most involved in the fighting. He rallied several racist working class Gallifreyans to topple down Morbius' statue. They found wild flowers and decorated the statue with them before placing a crown of his supporters' bones on the head, proclaiming him "God King, Son of Rassilon. My Arse!" The rear end of the statue had an artificial light bulb shoved up it, so that the sun could truly shine out of the Imperator's arse. Over the next few weeks, Pandak and a select group of overzealous anarchistic rebels presided over show trials, many of which resulted in execution. The Capitol was the dominion of the mobs for over a month.

Phil and Lil regained themselves after Pandak and the rest of their crew decided to join the mob. They left the town as best they could, where they found Chuckie who brought them to Mount Perdition. From the Finster estates, they could see the city burning all through the night for at least three days. They worried about Tommy, how he had disappeared in the Panopticon, but quickly forgot about him, figuring he had probably survived or at least died quickly. If he was alive, he was most likely with the mob. Or he had teleported back to base, though their teleport devices probably would have registered it. Kira made them comfortable as best she could, and was happy to see Chuckie alive and well. One evening, he asked her to forgive him for his crimes and she said "You have saved Gallifrey from the very evil your father couldn't abide, it doesn't matter what you've done, it's what you will do in the days to come that will shape the future of this world and yourself, Chuckie." Kimi was more or less the same as before. Apart from motherhood and her mysterious traumas, she hadn't changed one bit. Chuckie didn't have much time to care for her, since he needed immediate medical assistance for Phil and Lil, who were pretty much on their deathbeds after the long trek from the Capitol.

Doctor Lucy Carmichael was eventually summoned to attend to them when their symptoms became too aggressive. Phil had begun to scream in the night to visions of death and destruction, whilst Lil had taken to constantly haemorrhaging from the ear and singing songs about mud. At breakfast, it had come to the point where at least one of them would faint. Chuckie snuck into the Shobogan settlement where he found Lucy tending to wounded from the riots. She agreed to come that evening and spend the night on the estate. She took the temperature of the twins and took blood samples. By the morning, she diagnosed them with Failed Regeneration Syndrome. They would survive but not until she gave them an injection of blood from different Time Lords, the Finsters in particular. By the end of the week, they were cured, but limping. The Rose Gardens became a popular venue for them during recovery where they would spend time with Kimi and little Tommy. Chuckie stayed indoors plotting the next move for the gang, once things had died down in the Capitol.

The boy was now five years old and very healthy looking. The image of his father at that age with the exception of his mother's eye colour and shape, the boy was very sweet and seemed to be learning a lot from his tuition. He was friends with a few children from the House of Lungbarrow from when he would go to see his grandparents. Kimi was careful to keep the boy away from his great-great grand uncle as best she could. The boy was fond of the twins, out of all the adults. His uncle Chuckie could be a tad overprotective and whilst he found it endearing he just didn't relate to him as much as the twins. The twins had a tendency to oddities in a way he also did. "Auntie Lil, is there really a planet with mud people?" "Yes, and one day when that old dad of yours gets that Tardis working, we'll take you there." Tommy Jr smiled and said "Is my daddy really brave like everyone says?" Phil replied with "Uh huh, he's certainly that alright, if a little rash and overreacting. Very persistent in his struggles. Always there for you, except when he's gone." "Why did he go?" "He went because he wanted to save us…and he couldn't…but he's okay. You'll be seeing him soon." Lil picked him up and pointed at the city in the distance saying "Right now, your dad's fighting to help all the people in that city. He's still playing his part, just like the rest of us. And he's going to come home a winner." "Tommy-cha, time for bed!" Kira could be heard calling. Kimi embraced her son saying "Night night, my little brave boy." "Mommy, will Daddy be home soon?" Kimi smiled and said "Yes." When her son was gone, she started to cry. Lil placed her arm round her shoulder and said "It's okay…" "Kimi, our guts tell us Tommy's okay. Thanks but no thanks, Lil. And no I am not being condescending." Phil looked astonished at how quickly Kimi finished his sister's sentence, and then picked up on her body language. "Listen, Kimi, we know…" "Where he is. It's obvious you don't since you're hiding the fact that he ran off on you during your attempt on Morbius and you're lying to his and my son about it." Lil stood up beside her brother and both glowered at their old friend. "Listen Kimi, what the fuck is up with you and your increased intuition?" Phil said through gritted teeth. Kimi blushed and put her hand behind her head and said "I…I…I suppose I should tell you both. I…" "It all started when you came back from that trip, didn't it Kimi?" Chuckie said walking into the rose garden. "The suns are setting, we should be getting inside. Never know what might come out. We can chat by the fireside in the drawing room. Mom will be up all night with Tommy, so…"

The four friends sat across from one another in the drawing room over hot Draconian ale, as Kimi began to recount her tale. "It all started when I took the Tardis to the planet Osiris in the year, 2518. The Union of Allied Planets was based there, a branch of the Human Empire which had split long ago. The Americans and the Chinese had formed their own government independent from the Earth Presidency in the 23rd century. They were the descendants of human colonists who were forgotten about when their homeworld was caught in the crisis of the 22nd century Dalek invasion. The rulers were corrupt and had gone mad with power. They thought they could control people to say the least. All the talk at the time was about a planet called Miranda, where said experiment had failed and resulted in over aggressive humans called Reavers being produced. The crew of a ship called Serenity had gotten involved in exposing said fiasco. I investigated and was captured and experimented upon for my troubles. These government stooges turned me into a…telepath…an empath…god knows what else. But I escaped…they were attacked by a resurgence of popular opinion and I escaped in the Tardis. My telepathic abilities were too strong. I needed help. And the Tardis replied, she found one of few people in the universe with as powerful an ability as I. A girl by the name of River Tam. She was the pilot of Serenity. A kind girl. She helped me through the dark days of my telepathy. We looked into my mind and fought and fought my demons, until I realised what they were. It was that I miss and love my son…and I love Tommy. Also, I got over everything about not seeing my dad, my biological dad, and just accepted that he loved me all the same. We had a lot of adventures on Serenity. Lovely crew. River's brother was really nice and his medical skills helped me during the fits, and he had such a nice girlfriend, great mechanic. There was this guy, Jayne, who I have to say was just weird to say the least. The Captain, Mal, probably one of the most heroic guys ever, in real life and by reputation. And his First Mate was a good strong woman. And that lovely girl, Inara, she and that Captain used to have something going on. Gosh, it feels like decades ago. Eventually, I decided it was time to go home. And so I did, two years too late. Stupid Tardis, never brings you where you want to go, but always where you need to go, eh? So, that's my secret. The fits happen because I can feel too much despair and pain, which is why I've never left this place until Morbius is overthrown. I finish your sentences because I can read your minds. I never leave the estate, because I'm afraid people will come and dissect me or something."

Her friends merely sat there at a loss for words. Chuckie was the first to sum up the courage to speak. "A human telepath. Never thought I'd see the day. And on Gallifrey too." Phil and Lil rubbed their heads and said "Well, I guess we owe you an apology for being so rash." "You're okay, guys. If anyone owes you the apology it's me. I shouldn't be reading your minds. And Phil please stop checking me out." Phil leapt from his seat. "Look, it's just like that Buffy episode you showed us where Buffy can read minds and Xander has all those…Ah fuck." Phil ran out of the room in a panic, as the others laughed at his misfortune. Kira walked in and sat beside her daughter saying "So, you finally told them, Kimi-cha. Good girl. She's got a gift and she needs help. I'm calling Dr Lucy in tomorrow to help. Make Kimi a great gift." "How did you know?" "I'm human, Kimi and you're the only other one around me. Trust me, I can pick up on when we, especially you, keep secrets." Mother and daughter hugged and the rest of them joined in, including Phil. The harmony in the room allowed Kimi to reach out. Her mind extended to the Capitol and deep into the Panopticon. She heard a victorious cry from deep in its bowels. She saw him, Tommy, with a gleam of victory in his eyes. He was chained but he was breaking free. He was fighting, something, someone he couldn't comprehend, nor she. She reached out and said his name, "Tommy!" The next part was easily the weirdest. In the midst of the fighting, he noticed and she could hear him reply with "What? Kimi? What the fuck is going on, here? Hmm?" He had to use a catchphrase even in thought. Same old Tommy. She let go of her friends and said "I know where Tommy is, and I know how we're going to get him."


	23. The Lack of the Brain of Morbius

**City Hall, London, 2025**

Looking out the window, the Doctor could clearly see the London Eye. It stood tall, despite damage from several onslaughts over the past few years and was now being used by the Children of Time to patrol the city from the sky, as they had converted the lifts into transport pods. He was awaiting the Master's release from the medical wing for the bullet wound he had sustained from Clara Oswald. Of all his companions, he never suspected Clara Oswald to lead a force of those loyal to him and for Captain Jack and Sarah Jane to turn on him. Then again, he never really imagined this day ever coming. Time Lords rising from the dead to capture Earth and build a new empire in the heavens, it doesn't happen every day does it? The Earth was a slag heap, cities had remained intact, but the countryside was drudged and turned into labour grounds. Some of the seas were dried up so that they could build further workplaces for manual labour, with the exception of oil rich areas of the seabed, which were used to fuel the grand capital at Chronopolis. The Doctor still wondered about what the Monk had told him of the CEO of Rossum, all those cryptic words. He needed to discover this great hero's identity if he was going to save the planet. He doubted the possibility of the CEO leading the New Time Lord Empire. There was the possibility he was a construct, an anchor to this universe. He could have been an ordinary human being before now, but he could have had his timeline altered to make him an anchor. The only way a crack on the scale of the one in the Skaro system could be generated would involve there being a telepathic link to a time sensitive, but so few humans were time-sensitives. Usually, time-sensitive humans lived quiet lives, or abandoned their own time, in search of adventure, like his mother had all those years ago. Though the likes of his mother, Joel Mintz and Isaac Summerfield would never have wanted to become dictators or governors of their own planet, representing any form of autocracy or regulation of time travel. Time-sensitives hated the Time Lord governance of the Vortex, viewing it as evil and autocratic. All you have to do is ask the Daleks, or any other species that developed time travel independently.

"It's hideous, isn't it? That view…" The Doctor realised he was still looking out the window, when he turned round to see Clara. "You've changed again. You look even younger than you did when we met now. Why do you keep doing that? Changing while the rest of us keep on ageing. Doesn't it drive you mad?" The Doctor merely sighed and said "Change is relative, Clara. You were my last companion, he is my current. No more than a new relationship after the ending of an old one, or your species evolving in place of the Neanderthals. Life just goes one way or the other." Clara bowed her head in shame before saying "Your friend is okay…though I'm curious why you of all people protest at his arrest." He didn't flinch, his face betrayed no expression to the girl who always saved his life and was now in the apocalypse because of him. "I'm sorry this had to happen, Clara." "It's not your fault, it's these aliens. They're just too powerful. There was nothing any of us, or you for that matter, could have done against them. They burnt our skies, enslaved our people…they even stripped some people of the power to think. It was airborne, in the first few months. The preventative they used to crush free will. They said it would pacify the planet…prevent war, end famine. It made us weak in the wake of their military occupation. Time travel in stable conditions like the Tardis helped me resist, for others it was sheer strength of will. For the rest of humanity, nothing could be done. I watched as they were taken out and beaten and…and…so much else." Her tough exterior released a tear to demonstrate the obvious agony she was undergoing. Sensing his old friend's turmoil, the Doctor embraced Clara in a hug, and she reciprocated warmly. The two held on to one another, until the Doctor said. "Clara, I need to ask you a huge favour, while your people look after the Master." "What is it now?" "Coordinates for the planet Morrigan, a Time Vortex Manipulator…and an EMP." Clara pushed him aside and walked off in a huff, grunting "I'll see what I can do."

The EMP was needed for Coco LaBouche, in all his travels the Doctor had learned not to trust anyone who toyed with Cyber technology, for benign purposes or sinister. The Master could recuperate on his own, he decided. He needed to get to Morrigan and remove what was possibly the most vital card the New Time Lord Empire could play against them. The Earth may resist more easily without that factor, he hoped. Or it could be a trap for him. Well, that never stopped him before, why should it now? Clara returned with the coordinates. The Children of Time had a lot of stolen tech from the Monk's rule over the city. City Hall had been his palace, and now it was their base. The Time Vortex Manipulator was waiting for him in the repair shop. Inside the repair shop was Malcolm Taylor, a UNIT scientist he had once worked with during his tenth incarnation. "Ah, so you're the new Doctor. That's good I suppose…" The man seemed significantly less enthusiastic than the last time they had spoken. "Yes, I am indeed, Malcolm." "Oh, good for you, sonny. Going to save the world…again…oh, how very fucking original of you." He sounded even more bored that time. "Malcolm, I thought you were a big fan of mine." "Oh… fuck you and your fandom, who did you save, eh? Who did you save in the last five years? My family are all dead, thanks to your absence." He threw the Time Vortex Manipulator at the Doctor and said "There you go, now kindly fuck off." The Doctor's hearts broke then. He had lost a fanboy. Not even fangirls like Clara remained loyal to him anymore. You do realise how heart-breaking it is for a hero when their fandom lose faith, well double that for the Doctor, since he's got two hearts.

Keying the coordinates into the Time Vortex Manipulator, the Doctor prepared to leave. He left a note telling Clara to leave the EMP with the Master. Then, he landed on Morrigan with his neck nearly breaking in the process. How he hated that form of time travel, it was like jumping from the second storey of a house. Morrigan was long dead by the evidence. It was a desert, more than a desert. The bodies of carrion looking beasts were strewn everywhere, as if savaged by the winds of time. He then remembered why he wouldn't want to come to Morrigan…his son had died here. Perhaps the Monk had wanted to spare his feelings, or maybe he didn't want the Doctor to know that Philly was really alive. Either way, Morrigan was a no fly zone. That prospect made it all the more irresistible to someone like the Doctor. So clearly, the Monk did want him to come here. Or perhaps, he wanted to spare him from a cruel trap devised by this Overlord of his. Putting all this second guessing from his mind, the Doctor moved forward. He knew this planet must have decreased in size, so it wouldn't be long until he found the Moment. He hoped.

**The Temple of Morbius, Beneath the Capitol, Gallifrey**

The lift which was bearing Tommy Pickles, the rebel and his cousin, Angelica, mistress and niece to the currently being overthrown Imperator, Morbius, came to a halt. The chamber before them was dark and grim. Muck and condensation adorned the walls, as images of the Menti Celesti and the founders of the Time Lords stood alongside them. A long row of torches lit themselves all of a sudden and guided the two to a large door at the end of a short array of steps moving upwards. "What is this place, Angelica?" "Morbius had it built for his experiments…a combination of blood magic and science to create the ultimate weapon…or a means of life beyond death. Who knows, my beautiful monster is so imaginative is he not?" Tommy looked sickened at the thought of Morbius being immortal. "They say that about all psychopaths…He's in there, is he?" "At the end of the corridor. Oh, it looks like we have a welcoming committee…" Limping towards them from the shadows, Tommy recognised his distant cousin, Glospin, scarred almost beyond recognition. Tommy assumed by the bloodied lab coat he was wearing, experiments were underway, and Glospin was caught in the mesh. No wonder he was so damaged. "Cousins, so good to see you." "The feeling isn't mutual, you lying toady. Why aren't you with uncle Quences? He was all alone at the Senate meeting earlier." Glospin leered at Tommy, who could now see that his cousin had a walking stick. "Great-grand-uncle has transferred me to work for our latest ally, the Imperator. My knowledge in genetics since moving to university led me to graduate early. Morbius needed someone to work on harnessing an army…or possibly a new body. I mainly work in the genetics of a Tardis though. Less messy. Come, the Imperator will have much to say to you now, Cousin Thomas."

Tommy followed his cousins sceptically, mainly out of fear of what Morbius would do to them, if his resurrection was as unstable as he feared. He had heard of so called genetic experiments to extend life cycles of mortal beings. Usually, it involved instability or cybernetic augmentation of some form. Either way, a successful operation was the least likely of the outcomes. He had also never heard of Tardis genetic experiments, though he would soon find out. He found his staser in his back pocket, in case he required the element of surprise in there. Entering the chamber, he saw a monstrosity of epic proportions. A Tardis console blaring red had a gigantic computer matrix standing above it. There were men in white coats working on said Tardis console to make sure it was this…cannibalised. It seemed to be feeding off time and space from all he could see. He had heard tales of time travellers who had gone rogue doing such things to their Tardises, but the CIA always dealt with them. The legend of the Paradox Machine. He thought it impossible, but clearly the Imperator had done it, he had the power to alter time and space to his whim. But what could he need it for? It's not as if he wanted to use it for the sake of resurrection. Tommy could see that the Imperator was deliberately creating monsters. There seemed to be Outsiders and slum dwellers trapped in cages and being force fed all manner of nutrients. He then realised they were being bred for an army of monsters, possibly to retake Gallifrey. This was Morbius' plan to reclaim the planet upon death. But what body would he take to do so?

"Do you like it, cousin? My darling Morbius is ever the visionary, and our line will carry on his name across the heavens. Now that you're here, we can prepare him the body he needs to finish his experiments. The body of my undesired, exiled cousin. A nobody, whose been replaced." "Replaced?" "Glospin and I convinced Quences that you were a traitor, and to appease Morbius we needed a re-looming. So we made Owis…" Glospin clapped his hands and said in a sing-song manner, "Owis! Come here boy!" A short, plump boy with curly brown hair burst into the room. He had clearly been eating something bloody. "Meet your youngest cousin, Tommy. Your replacement in the family, for that matter." Tommy burst out laughing at that and chided his cousin for a whole two minutes through fits of laughter. Owis started crying and screamed "Cousin Angelica, can we kill the bad boy now? He's nothing like me…no wonder I replaced him. He's stupid." Owis shrugged his shoulders as at this point his other two cousins were ridiculing him. "Oh, Owis. He's far more intelligent and he's suffered far more than you ever will. You are nothing compared to him. Which is why we need you? Tommy here tends to make far too much noise, you'll just be our passive little cousin, Owis." Owis seemed upset at Angelica's scathing remarks initially, but then began sucking his thumb…for some reason. Tommy snickered at his erstwhile and immature substitute. "You all seem so accepting of me for some reason. I can't fathom why. I've found your secret lair and am going to take you all down, but you just stand here…with so many blatantly obvious secrets around me. Care to enlighten me as to why Morbius had a Paradox Machine built?"

"To facilitate the creation of the hive mind you see above it, young Pickles. A hive mind that will rule all of time and space." Standing behind him was a suave and sophisticated young man of about thirty. He wore a dark suit and trousers, with dark hair and green eyes. He had a smart red tie which he straightened at the sight of his peers. "Who are you?" "Oh sorry, where are my manners these days?" the man said in a most effeminate fashion, "I am the first incarnation of Morbius and I've been waiting in stasis for quite a while now. For the day I seize Gallifrey and all her holdings. The day of the resurrection of the future Emperor of all time and space…" Morbius clicked his fingers and all of a sudden he, Tommy, Angelica, Glospin and Owis were surrounded by a hologram, which Tommy deduced to be what was inside the computer matrix, a large brain to be exact. "What is this?" "The hive mind is a large brain, which when connected to the Eye of Harmony, which as President I can do through the use of ancient artefacts dating back to Rassilon himself. Aren't I naughty? It requires great intellects, a combination of such needed to control it. A combination of thirteen. Some would use great scientists…but some people don't have my imagination or the means at my disposal to do what I have done?"

Tommy cut him short "You used the Paradox Machine to alter your own history so that each of your different incarnations would have a different specialist skill…allowing for a combination of intellects, but still being the same man, with the same ultimate goal. Dominating time and space for himself." "Well done, Tommy. You are a clever little boy…you and I would have made a good team. Each of the thirteen are my incarnations at the point of death, taken from their own times prior to regeneration, so they could be part of the hive mind. The Paradox Machine allows the continuous existence of my thirteenth incarnation as President, despite the alterations to his past and the existence of himself within the hive mind. Speaking of which, darlings, have I succeeded? Is the Empire established? Shall I activate the machine?" Angelica and Glospin laughed quietly to themselves as Tommy replied, all too happily, "Morbius died at a Senate meeting. His mind is most likely wandering aimlessly…knowing my friends they probably dealt with any nearby hosts. Don't think I didn't have your magic tricks figured out." Glospin then rushed to his master's feet and said "Oh please, Great One. Some of your followers have salvaged the brain. He can be brought back. Please, spare me." "You little wretch. I was not to be awoken until I could take my place as ruler of time and space, using this boy's body. I am brought back to be told that I am dead and the plan is failed. Then, I know what must be done." He snapped Glospin's neck and forced the damaged young Time Lord to regenerate. "Next time, it will be a permanent death. Take him away!" The regenerating Glospin was escorted away by nearby guards.

Morbius then turned to Angelica and said "I know my later self has some fondness for you, but so help me Rassilon, I will do the same to you the next time your family fail me! Do you hear me girl?!" Angelica whimpered a "Yes" as she moved into a foetal position in the corner. "There's only one thing for it then. I shall assume control of the Loyalists with the help of that young boy, Rufus. The vultures will swarm around the Presidency now that I'm dead. Like moths to a flame. But a newly reborn Morbius cannot be contested for the Presidency, especially with an organised militia at his helm. Hmmm?" Tommy smiled at that. "Nice catchphrase." "Take it, when you're older you'll grow to use it all the time. Anyway where was I? Oh, yes!

Morbius continued his plan for anachronistic domination with "But I can't leave the hive mind alone…or absolute control over the Eye of Harmony will be delayed by another century or so. I will need someone to take my place there, from now on. That is where you come in, Tommy." "What?" "For too long, I have waited for my future self's passage to glory, so that I could take his place. Now that he is dead, he cannot take my place in the hive mind for when I ascend to the first citizenship. Instead, you shall be my substitute." Tommy resisted but Angelica and Owis grabbed him. "I refuse…I'm quite rebellious you know. Your future self kept me prisoner, and he can tell you, I was no pushover. I wouldn't be underestimating me, if I were you." Morbius laughed at that. "Oh my dear little idiot. My future self constantly relayed information back to me, and over the past five years I saw the experiments they did to you. We looked for a replacement for me through the Time Vortex and the energies of the Eye of Harmony seem to converge on you. If you grow up, you will become a traveller across the stars, a hero to many. This brain feeds off chronon energy, you see. And just think of the amount of universal history irrevocably changed by your absence. The potential chronons will be strong enough for the hive mind to be fully operational in a matter of weeks. Just imagine…the amount of lives lost, the amount of children unborn, the amount of species that will never exist… The ramifications are ever so orgasmic, aren't they? I ordered me to choose you as an emergency replacement, in case a situation such as this ever arose. I had an inkling something terrible had happened when I laid eyes on you earlier." "Then why punish Glospin now, instead of when you first saw me?" Morbius cackled incessantly. "Because it was ever so fun to watch him squirm like an insect underneath my jackboot for those five minutes, wasn't it?" Tommy looked on in anger at the man he thought then was his greatest foe. The Doctor would come to know far greater and far more insidious than he. But yet none quite so vain.

Tommy was restrained and brought to the next floor, where he found an empty capsule awaiting him, which seemed to fit Morbius more so than him. His brain was connected to the hive mind and he could feel twelve other minds acting in concert against his. For the first few days he resisted and then gave in after that, due to weakness of will. Their mind powers overwhelmed him constantly at every attempt of resistance he could muster. Morbius was too powerful and all hope was lost. Form what he could hear of the conflict in the streets, his friends must have been dead. Riots erupted and civilians seized the streets. Mob justice ruled in Gallifrey. Meanwhile, the Loyalists under Rufus attacked every single slum in concert, committing a form of ethnic cleansing upon the families of the rioters. Everything was like a nightmare and after about three days there was silence. A state of cold war existed in the Capitol.

Three weeks passed, as Tommy lay inside the capsule. He felt minds so strongly, not just his own. Every Time Lord has innate telepathy deep within them, going back to the Dark Times. Rassilon drove it out, the strong forms of telepathy at least, but it was still there deep within them all. Lingering. Waiting for a chance to escape. This contact with other minds must have awoken it within Tommy somehow. He needed something to latch onto…something to find. He looked out into the Capitol sometimes, but saw only despair. Morbius' return as a younger man had certainly surprised the denizens. Rebel groups held the slums, whilst the business district remained in the hands of Morbius. Fighting was common, and many working class citizens were flayed for their treachery during the riots. He reached out so far for his friends, but he usually only found Pandak cowering in his base once every evening, as fires blazed around him on the streets below. Randy Carmichael held his house as a fortress with the aid of his children, except Susie, whilst his wife Lucy remained in the Outsider camps where injured children were brought to her attention. He found Susie rescuing families from the slums during the violence. She had shot a man in the head for trying to rape a young mother after murdering her husband. That was Susie, always sticking out for the underdog. Tommy felt her sadness as he delved into the depths of her mind. All she could do was make him feel pain, so he moved on as the girl who had been like an older sister to him carried on with her humanitarian efforts.

The nights got blacker as the smoke billowed over the Capitol, the smoke of politics, of resistance, of sectarianism, of racism…oh, you get the picture. Tommy had little time for sentimentality now that he was a non-corporeal aspect of a hive mind. Reaching out to the Shobogan camps, he felt Lexus grieving for his tribe, who had been attacked by sectarian rebels in the dead of night. Maekar and Rojan were dead and so many others. Lexus was all but alone. After a few nights, he caught a chill and two of his nephews brought him to bed. Feeling the pain of the dying old man, Tommy communicated with him, and apologised for everything. Lexus' mind was all but dead, so Tommy's actions meant little in the end. The old man merely dreamt of pudding of some description, so Tommy let him sleep for one last time. Mount Perdition was not far from here. He saw the upstairs rooms and in there was his son, the one he had wanted to see ever since he learnt of his existence. The boy was beautiful, the way a new father always imagined their child and more. His grandmother was reading him a story and he couldn't sit still. It must have been a story of Zagreus or the Toclafane, who knows, but the boy had a similar reaction to the ones he had always had. Wonder and excitement. The prospect of seeing or knowing such creatures was too much for the boy to simply have retold to him. He wanted more, and Tommy loved him for that. He was his parents' child, untarnished and unspoiled, unlike them. Tommy felt afraid of the universe after seeing the horrors of Gallifrey itself first hand and Kimi was apprehensive after what had become of her on her trips abroad, though Tommy did not know that.

His mind went downstairs where he found his four best friends reminiscing. Kimi had changed so much, he thought her more beautiful after these five years of motherhood than ever before. Phil and Lil were haggard and war-torn, whilst Chuckie remained his old calm and brooding self. Tommy had feared the worst had happened to them in his absence. However, delight drowned his face at the knowledge that they were alive. He looked into Kimi's mind and saw horror and joy melded into one experience. Her adventures aboard Serenity were miraculous and energetic to say the least. The majestic soaring through space consumed her very mind and Tommy's bathed with it in these memories. She showed him so much of such a tiny corner of the universe that he couldn't resist delving further and further. In doing so, he inevitably found the most twisted memories of pain and torture by the government of the Union of Allied Planets. Then, he was back in the room with them, all entrapped in an embrace which burnt like both of Gallifrey's suns with its warmth. Then he felt a presence, an equal. In seeing them, one of them could see him, like a window as opposed to a mirror. But who? The sight of his friends alive, brought enough joy to Tommy for him not to care. He had had little faith up until now, then he felt himself resisting the hive mind. They were reaching critical mass, and soon the Eye of Harmony would be ripe for the taking. Morbius would be Emperor of time and space, and Tommy would be just another component in his malfunctioning computer. No more, he thought.

Ripping himself free, Tommy found the wires connecting him to the hive mind and ripped them open, the hive mind began to malfunction as the guards ran at Tommy. His restraining manacles were broken in an instant as he beat each and every one of them in an unnaturally fast way, mainly due to his exacerbated telepathic ability making him capable of predicting their moves. Each and every one fell to the ground in pain as he struck them before some of them could even notice him. Youth and the power of the Other being activated from within helped, but mainly the kinetic energy built up by his stifled resistance during incarceration, contributed to the speed and agility Tommy Pickles harnessed here and now. It was the inspiration to fight that he needed. A mantra he would keep in later years, travelling in time and space, would be "Where there is life, there is hope," and today is when he truly realised the full extent of that mantra. They were beaten, each and every one of his enemies in what felt like mere moments. Raising his arms, whilst the remains of the manacles were still bound to his wrists, he let out a mighty roar. That only attracted the attention of some undesirables in the laboratory nearby. The monsters. The experiments for new soldiers Morbius had had conducted by Glospin and the other quacks. A behemoth the size of three storeys, and hidden in shadow, descended upon Tommy who ducked and dodged every blow it struck with lightning fast accuracy. Finding a nearby energy weapon, he blasted at the creature which fell to the ground, injured. Then, he felt her presence.

Kimi was inside his mind. No wonder, it must have been her he felt reaching out to him all those times, even when he found her. She was a telepath. But how? She was only a human. Yet, she was stronger than him to say the least in her ability. Calling out his name, her face appeared before him, smiling. How could this be happening? All the activity in this room and the city, not even the most focused telepath could find him like that. "What? Kimi? What the fuck is going on here? Hmm?" She laughed before vanishing as the creature lashed out at Tommy once more. It was slower this time, he could see its features. It had once been humanoid, to say the least, but had increased even further in size. It had the face of a young man, but the features of an overgrown troll creature, with the brown fur of a wolf. "I'm sorry…but it's you or me, Fido." Tommy set the energy weapon to "kill" and unleashed a blast of white light at the Wolfman. Not even that was enough to kill it, but enough to cripple the beast it seemed.

Lying there, exhausted but alive, the Wolfman's eyes focused on Tommy. Throwing the gun to the floor, Tommy withdrew his standard issue knife he had received as a member of the Voiceless Others from his boot. He couldn't reach there whilst being restrained by Morbius' goons beforehand. "Well, Fido, it's not unbecoming for the defeated gentleman to give the victor the pleasure of recognition. In other words, what is your name, friend?" The Wolfman cackled saying "Ross. Morbius used me to see could he perfect gene splicing…merge his own DNA with that of an immortal's. A madman's folly. I was his greatest achievement, during the experimentations. Every trial on me was a success." Tommy was perplexed by that statement. "But how?" "I never died."

Ross regaled Tommy with further truths about his past serving their mutual enemy as a lab rat. "Troll and Kaled DNA got mixed in there, but I'm primarily human and wolf." "God, Ross, I'm very sorry I killed you." Ross unleashed a mighty laugh from beneath his fur. "Don't be, it's good that I can finally end it all. End all this shit. I had a family back on Earth, you know. A mother, a father, a little brother. A girlfriend. Then, all that was turned upside down the day they fell from the sky" "How did Morbius find you?" "I was travelling the world with my girlfriend. We got a job volunteering for some time travel experiment. The Rossum Corporation, I think. We ended up on Gallifrey and were taken by the Chancellery Guard here to become one of the experiments. She died when they tried to fuse her with a gazelle. Because we were humans they tended to pick creatures that had either settled on or were native to our planet. He picked these cells for me because of my affinity with canines. My family bred them you see…he said I had the wolf in me. The Big Bad Wolf…he said."

Tommy buried his head in his hands out of guilt. "I can…save your mind…maybe…with some of the technology here. The human bit…or the wolf? Whichever you prefer?" "You don't have to…" You've got me all wrong, Ross. I don't have to and I don't want to. I need to. For me, not for you. I couldn't live knowing I killed an intelligent creature like you." Ross nodded and so Tommy went in search of anything he could find to help the poor boy. Searching through shelves he eventually found something. He copied Ross' mind onto a polymer, a cloning recorder. Ancient technology, Morbius must have been using it for something. "Tommy…before I go…I can help you stop him. It'll still take another couple of hours for someone with my constitution to die. My mind…it's feral. Could rip that machine apart, given half a chance. Take your place, for the better." Tommy smiled and said "You're a clever little boy, yes you are." As he rubbed the fur between his ears, Ross growled "Quit patronising me and put me in the capsule." Tommy lifted up the injured Wolfman and carried him towards the capsule he had been lying in moments ago. There he applied the restraints and hooked him up to the mainframe of the computer matrix. At first, Ross squirmed in pain, but then Tommy could see the wolf within unleashed by his resistance. The computer matrix fell apart through fits of explosion as arming himself. Tommy fled back to the service lift. Running at top speed, he felt the hive mind collapse and turning back said "You can't stop us now, Morbius. We've won this day. Today is the day Gallifrey makes a stand, and for the better for once." And with that he ascended upward from the lift. He ascended heavenward to Hell.

**Morrigan, 2025**

The planet had more and more intact remains as the days became the nights on the Doctor's trek across it. Each step he took felt less and less like living. Every night, Singulars came and found bits of scrap metal and the Doctor would have to find a place to hide. If they ever saw him, he was doomed. Monsters like that don't give up, he knew that from experience. He scavenged a travelling cloak from the body of a dead Morriganese which allowed him to play dead whilst the Singulars searched in the dark. Eventually he found a communicator which he couldn't pick up any signals from. He pocketed it, hoping reception was better and he could communicate with someone on Earth for an evac with the Moment. They weren't going to be looking for Morriganese communicators, now were they? He knew it was probably unwise to have gone half-cocked to this place, not knowing quite where the Moment was, but still he soldiered on, believing it to be at the top of Mount Aed, the highest point on the planet. Coming to the foot of the mountain he found the climb a lot more difficult than he anticipated, having no food and supplies was a little difficult to begin with, but since the Morriganese could fly, it was nigh impossible to find a constructed path. So instead he embraced his younger self's passion of climbing rocks and ascended the side of the mountain. A hut was situated about three quarters of the way up. The cabin was abandoned but had plenty of supplies, and behind it was a clear path to the summit. Relieved, the Doctor refused to look a gift horse in the mouth and settled down for the evening, determined to continue in the morning.

Inside was a larder from which the Doctor fed himself on the food of the Morriganese. Unimaginatively bland gruel, these creatures truly did have little to live for, no wonder the Singulars took such joy in exterminating them. Upon feeding himself, tampering with the communicator was all the Doctor felt like doing. Activating it, he managed to pick up a signal this time, not from the Moment, but from the New Time Lords' ships. He knew by the messenger, it was the Rani. "Hello there, Lillian. Can't say I'm too happy to see you, but needs must. You know my allies have your brother, and you have the Moment. So we're at a bit of an impasse here, aren't we? So why don't we begin treaty negotiations, be good little conquerors, why don't you?" The Rani finally flickered fully into view on the communicator as a holographic image. Laughing, she replied with a smirk "Oh, Doctor, you do make me laugh. I will find and save my brother and then I will take you prisoner and make you watch while the Earth burns with the power of the Moment. Even if you make it there in time, you won't be able to alter your fate. Gallifrey will rise from the soil upon your bones. A new society built on the foundations of the one Time Lord who never would…" "Never would what?" "Kill his friends to save the innocent." The Doctor deactivated the communicator and left the cabin. All he could think of was those words. Lies, he thought, he would kill her and the Monk to save the world. And the Master, he knew he may have to do that. Cured or not, he still doubted him.

By dawn, he was at the top of the mountain. The suns of Morrigan shone upon him with less light every morning. He knew it was because the New Time Lord Empire were harnessing them for fuel, or god knows what, he tried not to think about it. The Doctor came to a crater, which had a large pillar in the middle. The Moment sat there on a stand, still inside its box, whilst a pile of furs lay beside it. A rope bridge allowed him access across a pit of hot lava to the pillar. The small island on the pillar was surprisingly larger than he expected from what he could see standing on the edge of the crater. "Hello there, remember me? It's Tommy…the Doctor. You always called me the Doctor…even then. You knew even then I was still the Doctor, when I did it. Thank you for that. Thank you, Bad Wolf Girl. How I miss her. The real her. Rose Tyler, Earth Defender. Still, at least she's happy." Taking a small bag from one of his pockets the Doctor headed for the Moment and put his hand on it. Then the sharpest and most sincere feeling of pain entered his left leg. Instead of screaming he fell before reaction could even occur, the Guardian was on top of him. A small, wiry boy with red hair and missing teeth. He must have been the pile of furs. The Guardian was now atop the Doctor, who could feel a double heartbeat emanating from within. The poor boy must have been a Romana supporter or a failed Singular experiment. The Doctor now saw the boy was chained to the Moment and pushing the Guardian into the stand, the Doctor made it for the rope bridge, brandishing his sonic screwdriver at the feral little thing. "I warn you…I'm armed." He could see the boy's face now. The tuft of red hair on his head flickered between that and other hair colours, for some reason. Some of his teeth were missing, but the remainder had been carved into fangs through some artificial method of torture. He wore clothes befitting that of Quasimodo, though the Doctor was perplexed by a crucifix hanging from his neck, implying that he wasn't a Time Lord, instead a human Catholic. Then he noticed the boy was angered, but not with him. With the sonic screwdriver. "Ha, I know for a fact he doesn't look like that, even if he does have one of his weird screwdrivers. You can quit teasing me now, Moment. I've heard of your mind games…convincing people whether to activate you or not. I won't have it I tell you. I will not destroy the Earth and that's final!" The boy spoke with the voice and manner of a much older man. "You could have picked someone who didn't look the exact same as him when he was younger…he's grown up since then…regenerated…it can't be him. At least your last few tricks nearly got me. Shows you've given up now, hasn't it?" The boy sat down in a huff and said to the Doctor. "Well, talk to me, you corporeal manifestation of an ancient weapon. Do you know what, you weapons of mass destruction have no manners these days do you? You really don't. I blame the war…gets you thinking you're all important because you can annihilate billions of people in attoseconds. You think you're all important. Don't they, Pablo?" The skeleton of a fish, a Gallifreyan goldfish to be exact, was in his pocket. The Guardian held the fish up to his ear and said "Show him what? Well, you know best, old friend." The Guardian beckoned the Doctor onward and when the Doctor reluctantly did so he offered him his crucifix. "No, I couldn't possibly…" "Take it, and you'll know me. If you really are him like Pablo here thinks." The Doctor held the crucifix in his hand. Wiping the dust from it, he found the words "Fraterculus" inscribed upon them.

"No, it can't be. Not you. Of all people…Dil?" Then the Doctor looked into the boy's eyes and saw the blue ones his brother had as a child transform into the brown ones he had in his Braxiatel incarnation. "Hello, big brother and welcome to the House of Fun!"


	24. It Never Ends

**Morrigan, 2025**

"One doesn't normally believe everything they see. Can one brother forgive another for one's discrepancies," the dishevelled boy said through his battered mouth. The Doctor would have called his brother by his nom de guerre of Irving Braxiatel today, had he not been reduced to the physical size of a nine year old, somehow. "Of course, Dil. Little bro, what have they done to you?" "The Overlord tortured me beyond belief for weeks after the Lost Sons took control. I don't know what happened, but all my regenerations happened at once when I wouldn't tell them how to find you. They then consigned me to the Moment, chained me up to guard it for as long as needs be." "When will needs be then?" "When I die, or they kill me, or you. Who knows? It won't be a happy ending for me, that's all I'm sure of." Dil lifted up his hand and tapped his chest with his thumb from his right hand, indicating himself. The Doctor could see the rest of his fingers on that hand were either missing, half missing or deformed beyond belief. For some reason, his thumbs had been kept in sterile conditions in comparison. Then, all of a sudden a few of the fingers returned. "Sorry bro, non-stop regeneration. They've trapped me in a paradox of dying, yet living. A practical time loop. Back home, they would have put me in a Shadow House and I would have been one of many undesirables our society had. So, be thankful we're not home." The Doctor had to chuckle at his brother for that. "Ever the optimist, Dil." The two brothers embraced. "How many years, T, how long has it been for you since the Time War?" "Over a millennium. I'm sorry I never came back for you." "I was dead by then, T, and your own children, grandchildren, great grandchildren…died at Arcadia, they must have."

The Doctor burst into tears as Dil patted him on the head. Then, he looked towards the Moment, as within his head he felt the burning sensation of an acidic substance. The voice of Esteban, the horny waiter he had created in his teenage years when sneaking out to parties outside the Academy spoke to Dil first. "_Break his neck, Dylan, go on. He left you to die on that ship. You and the DeVilles burnt to a cinder. Trapped in a black hole. Dying forever. And he lived. What kind of justice is that, eh?" _Then another voice spoke, the voice of Pablo the Fish. "**No, Dil, he's your brother, leave him be. Forgive. He is the Doctor now, not that homicidal maniac you fought for during the war." **"Lilly survived Arcadia. She died at Rassilon's hand, trying to warn my future self of Rassilon's Final Sanction. But my other sons and daughters, and their children and grandchildren all perished when Arcadia fell. I don't think I've ever come to terms with it, or ever will. I killed Daleks that day, from the ruins of my own house. Upon seeing so many of my own people, innocent good people die alongside my own family that I thought were safe on Gallifrey, I caved. I decided to murder the world. Murder the Time Lords and the Daleks. Rid the universe of their filth! But…she stopped me. The Bad Wolf Girl. I saved Gallifrey…and I won that day. Then I came back to Gallifrey. I found it lying on the verges of reality, in a pocket universe. It had been ruined by our own people's offshoot, the Faction Paradox. They used Remembrance Tanks to bring back most of the population. You know this, of course. You were there. So, I destroyed them." Dil stroked his brother's hair with kindness, as if to say he forgave him. "How did it happen? Tell me. I only just managed to escape that day. I can't remember it all…" "Well, the Tardis had a record. I kept it on the sonic's memory. Might be able to show you…"

**A/N: This next paragraph is an attempt at a summary of the Eighth Doctor Adventures novels, which is next to impossible, considering how very complicated they are.**

In his eighth incarnation, the Doctor travelled at some point in his early life with a teenager named Sam Jones from 1990s London and a German drifter from 1963 named Fitz Kreiner. Signs of trouble in their future came to them at the discovery of the supposed corpse of the Doctor being auctioned off to various former enemies, one of which was a future enemy named the Faction Paradox. Then, Sam's life was turned upside down when they discovered she wasn't the real Sam Jones, rather than a blonde English girl the real Sam Jones was a black haired American in San Francisco and because of the Doctor's presence there and the Master's interference during the Millennium, Sam's timeline had been changed, making her the Doctor's next companion instead of who she really was. Sam left shortly after this discovery and Fitz was captured by the Faction Paradox. Teaming up with his third incarnation and Sarah Jane Smith, the Doctor went to rescue him, but found that centuries had passed and he had joined the Faction Paradox as Father Kreiner. His clone created by an offshoot of humanity known as the Remote called Kode, was given Fitz's memories by the Doctor, making him the real Fitz Kreiner, as opposed to the original. They travelled with a member of the Remote known as Compassion. Eventually, the Time Lords from the future, led by Romana in her third incarnation, turned on the Doctor and destroyed his Tardis. Instead, Compassion became the first of a breed of Tardis known as the Type 102, a sentient version that could communicate, so the Doctor and Fitz used her as a mode of transport whilst the Time Lords hunted them down. Eventually, they were brought to Gallifrey in the far future, where Romana ruled as War Queen of the Nine Gallifreys. The Faction Paradox invaded Gallifrey and at their helm was the foretold leader, the Grandfather Paradox, revealed to be a possible future version of the Eighth Doctor. Having gone back in time, the Faction Paradox had caused the Third Doctor to regenerate on the planet Dust in the far future, rather than Metebelis 3. In doing so, he was infected by a virus which caused him to become a much darker man, his past, present and future being distorted by the virus.

This warped version of the Doctor destroyed the Daleks at their creation among other things, and by the time of his eighth incarnation was beginning to succumb to the influence of the Grandfather Paradox, his shadow was also gone due to the damage to his past. Every dark, inhumane turn he could have taken for the greater good, he did, unlike in the established canon. To cure himself of the virus, the Doctor recovered his Tardis, which had become a toy of the Faction known as the Edifice, and erased his memories, supplanting them with the Matrix and annihilating Gallifrey. Fitz took the Tardis whilst Compassion sent the amnesiac Doctor to live out the late 19th century and the entirety of the 20th century until he met up with Fitz again. Compassion left to explore the universe and upon reunion, despite not remembering him, the Doctor and Fitz were fast friends once more. They travelled with Anji Kapoor, an Indian girl from 2003 who was very endearing to them and later a spy with a mysterious past named Trix McMillan. All this time, the Doctor had no memory of anything before Compassion left him in 1880s Earth. Fitz reminded him of some things but not everything. A human named Sabbath attempted to seize control of time (but that part of the continuity isn't necessary to this plot). The Doctor, Fitz and Trix landed in London in 2005, where the grave of Sam Jones was discovered by them. Since the Doctor couldn't remember their dearly departed old friend, Fitz decided to leave him, a lonely old man and Trix, since she and Fitz had developed a relationship of sorts, left with him. They helped the Doctor one last time in fending off an invasion of Earth by the Vore, and help came to them from the exiled father of the Master, Marnal Gate. The Doctor learned from him and K-9, who survived the destruction of Gallifrey, how to save his world, through the Matrix in his head. Marnal perished defending Earth from the Vore and Fitz and Trix moved on with their lives, now a couple. The Doctor's fate regarding his battle with the Vore, is left to speculation.

**A/N: These are just my speculations as to what happened next, none of this next segment is from any Doctor Who media, outside of fanfiction and theories.**

Upon defeating the Vore and saving Earth, the Doctor used the power of the Matrix to bring Gallifrey back to a point before Romana regenerated into her War Queen incarnation. He kept her in power up until that point before deposing her. He remained on Gallifrey as an academic for a few centuries in an attempt to find himself. His memories eventually returned to him gradually, but they became distorted with those of his past life as the Other. He grew to forget his marriage as the Doctor, through which he was Susan's grandfather, and instead focused on the wife of Omega and the Other, Patience, as his own wife, and none other, viewing her as his true love and going into deep mourning for her. This is the reason he stayed on Gallifrey for a while, before leaving again and meeting Samson and Gemma Griffin, and later Charlotte Pollard and Lucie Miller. Though those adventures are not mine to tell. It would all eventually culminate in him meeting his fate on Karn, a lonely exile, refusing to take part in a war which he became a huge figure in during his next incarnation. A war in which he lost his family and grew to remember each and every one of them, despite his forgetting them for his love for Patience as the Other. His memories were always foggy, having had thirteen children with his wife in a past life, he presumed he had with his own wife, which he hadn't. The Time War ended with him as the alleged sole survivor of his people, an unhappy mess until Rose Tyler taught him he had goodness inside of him and made him become a great hero once more. The Doctor Reborn.

Meanwhile, the Faction Paradox survived in the shadows, using the late Time Lord President, Greyjan the Sane's corpse, as a vessel for their return one day, having erased themselves from history. When the Doctor destroyed and later recreated Gallifrey, he prevented a conflict between them and the Time Lords known as the Last Great War in Heaven. Instead, they fought the Daleks during the Time War. Few people remember this war; the Doctor, the Monk, the Rani, the Master (who would have succeeded Romana as War King, had the war taken place), Braxiatel and Romana. Or anyone who died and was recreated via a Remembrance Tank during the Time War. The Faction Paradox waited in the shadows of Gallifrey during the War. When all thirteen Doctors trapped it, they allowed the government to fall and for the Faction to assume control. With the Grandfather Paradox as their leader, Gallifrey would have conquered the universe through blood magic and ritual via the power the Faction had amassed. Good thing it was destroyed again. The Twelfth Doctor and Clara Oswald would go on many adventures to find it, but when they did find it, they found only a hub of despair and degradation ruled over by tyrants obsessed with altering their own history. The Doctor had a feeling this would happen, as he knew Gallifrey was hiding something uglier than itself. Whether it chose to emerge or not, was up to chance. And in this scenario, it emerged fully formed and alive.

**A/N: Sorry for that bit of "fanwank," to paraphrase the late Craig Hinton, but cramming all those concepts into dialogue and exposition would have been tedious and unentertaining for either writer or reader. Now to continue with our tale.**

**Sonic Screwdriver's Memory Projection of Gallifrey**

The Tardis had found her. After so many years, between Trenzalore and the Daleks and all manner of creatures, the Doctor and Clara could go to Gallifrey at long last. The planet looked a lot darker than before, though the Doctor dismissed this as sheer freezing of time, to keep Clara happy. He knew they weren't frozen though, as how else would they communicate with him. Materialising, the Doctor received less of a pleasant surprise than he hoped. Voodoo imagery adorned the walls and the people walked around as if lobotomised. The people of Gallifrey were slaves. Some people the Doctor recognised, others he did not. The problem was that all these people had died in the Time War before the final battle.

"What is it, Doctor? You look like you've seen a ghost," Clara asked putting her hand on her old friend's shoulder as he said "We've fucking gone to Hell. Gallifrey's full of ghosties now, lass." To summarise, seized by the Faction Paradox, the Doctor and Clara were brought to the Great Tower of Rassilon in the Death Zone. Here was where Rassilon was once buried but was now imprisoned by the Grandfather Paradox, in his own sarcophagus. Clara was tortured to within an inch of her life by the beasts from the Faction Paradox. The Doctor instead awaited his turn, but when it came he was instead escorted before the Grandfather Paradox, alive somehow. "How can you be alive, I erased you from history?" "Doing that only strengthens us, dear Doctor. Our religion revolves around paradoxes, by erasing us you gave way for our return as creatures of unimaginable power. Though to return it cost much of our power, but we remain superior to the Time Lords." The Doctor scowled at his possible self and remained in the throne room for weeks, receiving similar short speeches day in and day out.

Then the day came that Clara escaped. Her torturers joined her only to discover the night beforehand she had broken her wrists and ankles to escape her restraints, and despite her injuries she slew them all. The Doctor remained suspended in a field of Anti-Time by the Faction Paradox. Clara released him whilst the Grandfather Paradox slept and they made their way to the Eye of Harmony in the Panopticon. Here is where they made their final stand together, the day Gallifrey died forever.

"Gallifrey has been ruined, Clara. The Faction, they have raped everything that was good about this world and soon they'll find a way to control time and space again through the Eye of Harmony and the Matrix. New Time Lords, led by the Grandfather Paradox. It would be the end of all things good in the universe. Clara, what would you have me do?" "Doctor, you found a way before to save Gallifrey. You can do it again…" "I saved it from a war. Not from this kind of occupation. I didn't know then that the Faction were waiting in the shadows to reclaim our planet. Now I know I failed that day. If I had used the Moment, then Gallifrey would have lived in my memory as it once was. Now it never will, I'm afraid. This fucking shit. Oh Clara…" The Doctor withdrew something from his pockets, a tiny little explosive. "What is it, Doctor?" "An antimatter black hole device. I've kept this since the Time War, wondering would I ever fulfil my duty, after all these years. I've set it to five hours from now, but there will be ruptures beforehand. The planet will slowly die in a volcanic eruption of chronon energy. Why me? Why me, Clara?"

He was crying now as she begged him "Please, you don't have to. Not again. You can prevent this from happening ever again…please. Don't do it. There's no reason." "Oh but there is. Why am I in this position again? Why have I been brought to this position again? What forces put me here? Is it the Other? Is it Time? Is it Death? Is it Life? Is it the White Guardian or the Black? Or, hell, is it Astrid fucking Peth? Why does destiny bring me back here again and again, only to destroy my own home?" "You don't have to, Doctor. You never have to…" Clara was lowering his arms at this point as if to tell him to turn back. "I'm sorry, Clara. Just like I had to then…I have to now. Now get to the Tardis." "But Doctor…" "Get to the fucking Tardis!" "I'll never forgive you for this! Never! Find a new fucking companion when this is done." Clara ran off back to the Tardis as the Doctor wept. "Romana, Marnal, Father, Dil, Susan and oh so few but yet oh so many. The good Time Lords. The ones who cared. I'm sorry for you all. Forgive me." Throwing the device into the Eye of Harmony the Doctor ran. Tremors shook Gallifrey as the entire planet began to wink from existence. The Doctor returned to the Tardis where Clara was waiting for him. Many others escaped that day. Some to New Arcadia, others aboard Tardises. The Faction Paradox died with Gallifrey, and would never return to the universe again. At least the Doctor did something good that day. On the day it was once again impossible to do the right thing. Though if he couldn't live up to that, then there would be no point in being called the Doctor would there.

"Gallifrey is gone. The Tardis records approximately five hours before they were all destroyed. The Faction Paradox all perished in the first of the tremors. We can go now." He looked to Clara who stood before him with her arms crossed, in anger. "Well, where to next? I know a place where the dogs have two noses. They call it Seville. I know the planet, Seville. Or we could meet Ernest Hemingway? Oh, Hemingway, deep guy. Once spent the night with him. Still, he never was one to take anything to heart was old Ernie, really troubled guy, but devoted dad and amazing dancer. Come on, you'll love him. He's just like me…" Looking to his friend once more the Doctor saw she was crying. "We came all this way to look for your people again. To find them, to make you happy. But you just did it all over again. Why?" "Because I had to." "I know you did. I get that. But…all the same, Doctor, if every adventure with you is going to be this pointless in the end, I'd rather leave." "You want to go home? I can do that, no problem. Give you a bit of time to let it all out." "Doctor. I've seen the Daleks and what they did on those worlds where we fought them. They need stopping. I'm still and adventuress at heart. And I've always been good with kids. I could join some army fighting Daleks out in space and work to help any orphans. I've been thinking about it for a while now and I think that's best." The Doctor walked over to her and embraced her saying "I know you hate me, but I still love you. My impossible girl. Everyone who has walked in here has a special place in my hearts. You, Clara Oswald, are doing the right thing. Right then, 43rd century. A lull in the fighting, plenty of time to prepare." Clara was surprised at how accepting her friend was as he left her on Earth in the 43rd century. "Goodbye, Clara." "Goodbye, Doctor. Oh and I hope you find her. Your wife. If you can't have Gallifrey, you may as well have her." The Doctor lowered his eyes in sadness and said "I hope so too, Clara." He opened the doors and the Impossible Girl walked out of them for what they both thought would be the last time.

**Morrigan, 2025**

"_Murderer. Butcher. The Faction gave us life. He brings us death. You must give him this favour in kind," _Esteban growled at him in his head, drowning out Pablo's calls for sympathy. The Doctor looked at his brother and said "Now, I'm going to need to secure the Moment, bro. I can take you back to Earth with me. We can get you help." "No, brother. You don't realise the extent of this timeline. Let me tell you what became of me on their Mothership."

**The New Time Lord Imperial Mothership, 2021**

They were coming. Coming in the darkness. They were going to sift him of old information and pump new doggerel into him. It had always been their intention to recreate the Matrix, through him was another matter entirely. The Time Lords need their repository of data in the Matrix. What many people on Gallifrey never knew was that the Matrix was composed of the minds of the dead hyper-intelligent of their world. His great grand uncle Quences had been confined to it long after death. He liked to control everything from the background and always seemed to do so even in death. Dil believed him to be one of the catalysts of the Time War, though a minor one. Now Dil was to become the epicentre of a new Matrix, a foundation on which would be built a new Gallifrey. Dil Pickles would be removed, but not entirely.

Dil managed to retain some of his memories through developing split personalities. Pablo was a pet he had many years ago. Whilst escaping Gallifrey, he found his remains and kept them with him to retain his childhood, as a memento of Gallifrey. Esteban was a waiter he remembered, a persona he created to pick up women during his teen years. The third was one which had been all but stifled, his adult self. The suave, elegant, selfish but yet kind and loyal politician who liked to dabble in rare objects throughout time and space, Irving Braxiatel. Dil's old self, the childhood he had had, remained as the core personality to replace Braxiatel. He was warped now, but he would survive, barely. Whether he could die was debatable. The consumption of the Matrix caused him to experience every one of his regenerations at once. It turned him into an abomination of thought. But nothing happened her anyway. Then came the day the Overlord visited him.

A tall figure walked before him, wearing a Singular helmet in the style of a Predator and a dark cloak and armour. The Overlord seemed to resemble Darth Vader in a way. Dil noticed this. "Who are you? My father?" Putting on a falsetto Mark Hamill impression, he yelped "That's not true, that's impossible!" The Overlord gave a snap of the fingers to alert some of the Singulars torturing Dil to execute the punishment for cheek. They removed another one of his fingers. Approaching him, he noticed something odd about his captor. "You reek of antimatter, did you know that?" "It's my composition, Braxiatel. Or are you Dil now?" "I think Dil is the appropriate title afforded to me at the moment. Who are you? Why are you here?" "I came to save the Time Lords, that's what." "You laid New Arcadia to waste, put most of my people to work as drudges. You expect me to believe that you want to help my people? You clearly only want our power. The capability to control time and space? The ability to regenerate? Why do you wear that get up? Who are you?" The Overlord stalked over to Dil, entrapped in two energy beams. "I am a child of Time. That is all you need know. I have transcended beyond that, and now I see that Time and Space needs to be restructured by our rules. You knew me once, all those years ago. So many Time Lords did. I was actually considered a blessed child, despite my lies." The Overlord then removed their visor and Dil saw to his horror the truth of them.

**Morrigan, 2025**

"So, bro, tell me who the Overlord is." Dil grabbed his ears and started beating his head. "Bad Dilly! Bad Dilly! Mustn't tell! Mustn't tell! Overlord will kill us all! Kill Dilly first! _Must kill Tommy, then they give us life!_ No, Esteban! No! **Spare Tommy, let him kill you! Kill me, Tommy, please!**" It was now that the Doctor had no idea what was happening. "What in all the galaxies is going on? "What Earthlings call schizophrenia, brother, is what is happening to me. On Earth I would be sectioned. In the New Time Lord Empire, I am the Guardian of the Moment. Ready to do the will of the Overlord and annihilate the Earth if needs must. The Moment has tried to stop me in the past…but she terrifies me far less than the Overlord does or ever will. The Overlord is a being of pure hate, brother. If you know what's best, severe my foot, take the Moment and go straight back to Earth. Use it to destroy the fleet. Please, a solar storm will be coming in five seconds. You can head straight back to Earth without being intercepted by the fleet. Trust me. I have a higher mind than you now, the mind of the Matrix, or a failed version of it. And I am your brother, your only one. You have to trust me." The solar storms erupted in the skies as the Doctor said to his brother "Dil, who or what is the Overlord? If they're made of antimatter, then that's fine. It might be easier to kill them. But I need to know more." "Brother, ignorance is bliss. Don't find the Overlord. They'll find you first. So destroy the fleet before they can."

The solar storms began to rip apart the landscape. "Come with me, brother." "There's too little time, here." Dil handed the Doctor a knife from his breast pocket. "Take the Moment, but don't take me. You've got a two minute window of opportunity here. Use it!" "But how do I save Earth from the damages to the timeline…" "You caught my EMP message, didn't you?" "That was you? I thought that was in case of a Cyberman attack by the Alliance. How will it work?" Dil tapped his nose before saying "If you want something done right, do it yourself. Why do I still have so much faith in you, big brother?" Dil raised the carving knife and proceeded to severe his own foot, screaming in agony before laughing like a clown. The Doctor held his brother in his arms and said "I will come back for you. I'm not leaving another one of my family behind. Not again." Kissing his brother on the head, the Doctor grabbed the Moment as the solar storms raged around him and proceeded to set the Time Vortex Manipulator. Dil saw his brother leave and smiled to himself as the solar storms abated and he heard his split personalities arguing with one another. _"You were a fool to do that, he will kill us all now." _**"Dil, the Overlord will kill us now. Tommy would have been merciful." **Then a new voice resounded above them all, the voice of the Overlord. _**YOU FOOL, DIL! WHERE IS THE DOCTOR? WE NEED HIM, YOU TOOL. TELL ME WHERE HE IS!" **_"No, you can't hurt me anymore than you already have you venomous harpy!" Then he vanished in a beam of light back to the Mothership, for the Overlord to meet justice upon him.

Meanwhile, the Doctor found himself back on Earth. Dil's plan had worked it seemed. But this wasn't the City Hall in London. It was an opulent foyer surrounded by paintings of each and every one of his incarnations. "Why am I on these paintings?" Then he noticed his eleventh, twelfth and current ones were missing. Shrugging his shoulders, the Doctor turned to look down the foyer, to the main entrance doors where he could see the largest painting of them all was adorned. The painting was of Rose Tyler. "Have I stumbled into a Pride and Prejudice crossover or something?" "Oh no, Doctor, in fact you have stumbled upon your better half, on this day." Turning round the Doctor could see a man in a suit stumbling on a cane walking down the stairs. He was accompanied by two expressionless humans. They were genderless in appearance, they looked neither like women or men. They were malformed versions of humans. No checks or frowns upon their faces, but yet they were comely. Then he noticed a maid who looked particularly like a woman. She had blonde hair and was reasonably pretty, but then he saw she wasn't a maid but a plastic facsimile kept in a glass container. The man approached him and the Doctor could see who he really was now. "What's the matter, Doctor? Don't you recognise your own son?" "My sons are dead, I know that for a fact." The Doctor was looking into the face of a wizened man, once handsome and pleasant but now elderly and curmudgeonly. "I'm not exactly what you'd call a naturally conceived one. None of your sons had this." The old man placed the Doctor's hand on his chest and through that chest the Doctor could feel one heart and on the other side none. "So, you're a human? But you're my son? Oh…" The spiky brown hair had gone white in most parts, but the man still had the unmistakable glint in his eyes. Through a pair of brown spotted lips, the geriatric murmured "Allonsy." It was him. How many centuries had it been now? Nowhere near enough. "My name, Doctor, is John Smith, and welcome to Chronopolis."


	25. I Am Chuckie Finster, You Will Obey Me

**London, 2025**

The brown haired man with glasses limped slowly but surely towards the edge of the Children of Time's dominion in London. The limp was caused by an injury he received upon arrival here. A bullet to the foot, they had told him. He must have forgotten all about it, having awoken three days after the event. The Doctor had left and the last thing he could remember was confronting the Meddling Monk in an advanced little dungeon. The girl, the one they said shot him had granted him an EMP device upon his awakening. "The Doctor's wishes, not mine," she had told him. The girl, Clara Oswald, was head of the Children of Time and she hadn't apologised for maiming him once. Still, he could forgive her that. It had given him a chance to relax for once. This past week or so had been tumultuous. Fuck, he thought, the past decade had been a maelstrom of event after event for the Master. First, he was resurrected in the body of a human medic, had to seek refuge with vampires then hunted down and murdered Death and her fellow false gods of Gallifrey with the aid of his oldest enemy, the Doctor. The prospect of a rest was practically orgasmic for him. They put him on a dose of medication which kept his mood stable, knowing he might lash out at one of them, considering his track record. Thoughts crossed his mind about murdering each and every one of them. But yet he always decided against it, wanting to abandon his old life and become Chuckie once more. Even as Chuckie he had his moments, particularly in his teen years. Arguably, the transformation into Koschei had begun at that point. Koschei the Deathless. His former nom de guerre. How he loathed his past…every minute of it. A bipolar episode of what would soon be his life, at least that's the way he saw it now, or a lie he convinced himself to believe.

In lieu of the Doctor's vouching for him, he was accepted by the locals even with an obvious prejudice being borne against him. This day he had walked out to the edge to see would they even let him pass. There were two boys holding the border between their territory and the Alliance's. Each one younger than eighteen, carrying Tommy guns, outdated for the 2020s to say the least. One raised his gun instantly at the Master "Put your hands up, sir." "Oh, can't you see I'm just a harmless patient my good man. A humble patient, that's all." His beard was just as bushy as ever and the resemblance to the American criminal Lorne Malvo was uncanny. Except at the moment he was carrying a sponge bag and wearing a pink dressing gown and slippers. "I just wanted to go for a stroll, if that's okay? Thanking you kindly." "Drop the act! Get on the ground!" "Okay gents, this here is highly irregular. I'm just your average fella you see. I've never been to Old London Town before, eh." The Minnesota accent was at its peak. "Thought I might take a stroll and see what all the hullabaloo is about, you know?" "Get down!" "Now sonny, let's just calm down and have a nice cup of cocoa, eh? Take your mind off your troubles." "I will shoot you!" His comrade in arms made an apologetic gesture to the Master. "Sir, I'm sorry. He gets agitated very easily. And we are under orders to not let patients wander into enemy territories." "No need to fret, good sir. I will be out of your hair as soon as I've dealt with your friend. Tell me, boy. Jackson, isn't it?" The impression had dropped and now the suave, sophisticated Master of old was before them. "Yes…not that's it any of your business, scum!" "Did they ever find your girlfriend? Are you glad your mother survived the Great Paradox? And of all things, please tell me you remember the rest of your family?" Jackson lowered his gun "I can't…the Great Paradox wiped them out. I have no clue whether I was single or married." "Considering your age, I doubt it. Though you did have a girlfriend, and she was, how you say, up the duff, wasn't she? Or was it an older sister that you cared for, not saying you were the father or anything? I can just see the eyes of a man who lost something which never was in your eyes. Or maybe I'm reading into this a little too much. It doesn't matter now anyway…whoever she was her mother was never up the duff with her to begin with. The ironies of time travel, eh? Ha ha ha!" As the Master laughed heartily, Private Jackson lashed out at him, but his wrists were caught by the Master who proceeded to head butt the boy and kick him in the balls. The other sentry raised his gun to the Time Lord who raised a laser screwdriver to him. "I just want to go for a walk?" Then a sting hit his neck. And another. Pulling a dart he said "Elephant tranquiliser…one for each heart. Fuck you, Oswald." Collapsing, the Master dreamt of Gallifrey.

**The Capitol, Gallifrey**

"The best laid plans of mice and men, Chuck?" Phil DeVille asked his leading friend in the expedition to rescue Tommy Pickles from the Capitol. Chuckie was uncertain of this venture, though he usually was with most risky businesses, he thought this one had little basis. He didn't doubt his sister's gift, not at all. But, how could she know that was Tommy, out of all the millions of minds probably in the city. To prove it, she rigged a tracking device on their comms devices which found Tommy's signal emanating from the Capitol. It wasn't conclusive evidence at all, even worth risking their lives in the Capitol for. But Chuckie had agreed the more he thought about it. His children were still there. Well, they weren't his children. The Voiceless Others had managed to maintain themselves over the years through a very strong front, an orphanage in the slums. Chuckie had hoped the gang would fortify it well enough, but Lucy Carmichael told him that the section of the slums they were located in, Zagreus Village, was overrun with marauding townspeople. He had grown to care for the children and would make it his business to secure them whilst the others searched for Tommy. Rightfully feeling responsible for this, Chuckie had begun the quest. Phil's problem was the fact they were in the sewers, which would normally be seventh heaven for Phil, except they were filled with blood and corpses at the minute.

The plan was to follow Tommy's signal until they reached their rendezvous point with Susie Carmichael, who could get them safely through the city. It was rumoured that beyond the rendezvous point the sewers were controlled completely by Morbius Loyalists, acting as guerrilla fighters. This power struggle had only been going on for a matter of three weeks, the Time Lords certainly knew how not to waste time. Kimi had volunteered to find Tommy first, embracing the adventurous side of her nature, whilst Lil and Phil had taken some persuading. It was only the four of them in the sewer at the moment. Dil Pickles was most likely somewhere in the Capitol. At his former place of work, no doubt, holding out against the rebels. Screams and fighting seemed to be going on above them despite all the time that had elapsed. Eventually, they came to the point in the sewers where Susie awaited them.

"Eta, this is Omega!" Phil shouted up to Susie "On Operation Theta Sigma." Susie opened the manhole but then Kimi ordered them all to stop. "Tommy's tracker says we should advance through the sewers, so we need to split up if we want to get everything finished here." "Kimi, that's suicide." "So's living in this city, Suse. I don't see you leaving any time soon. I'm going and that's final." "Phil, go with her," Lil cautioned her brother. "No one should have to go it alone in there, Kim." "Okay…" Phil said as a yellow puddle which no one else noticed formed beneath him. Kimi grabbed his arm and dragged him onward after hearing him say "Right behind you, Kimi," nervously. Chuckie, Lil and Susie advanced up onto the surface. "Susie, did you secure the kids?" "They're safe, Chuck. They're in Zagreus Village at the orphanage. Your boys have managed to hold out, Finster. You pick 'em well." "Can we quit with this pestering and find Pandak so I can rip his heart out?" "Whoa sister, time out," Susie cautioned Lil at that juncture. Chuckie separated them saying "Lil, this is not the time or the place to be going full Rani on us. Susie, get me to those kids." Susie asked Lil "What's with the bloodlust for Pandak anyway?" "He left us to die in the riots…ever the populist he turned the uprising to his advantage. If I kill him, then we save Gallifrey from a fascist regime in the future. If I let him live, then we're fucking screwed." Susie pointed to a map and said "He'll be in his base there on the East Side of town, we'll meet you there later before we go to get Phil, Kimi and hopefully, Tommy." Lil saluted her old friends as Susie and Chuckie made a mad dash for Zagreus Village.

All over the city Morbius was being burnt in effigy, as was his wife, Mistress Peinforte. He noticed Susie's armour as they entered. She bore several scars he would rather not have asked about, both physical and otherwise on her body, and the way she wore the body armour was quite impressive. Zagreus Village was a heap of alleyways divided between factions. The Voiceless Others had marked theirs with the body of a Chancellery Guard with his mouth sewn shut, pinned to a nearby wall, the symbol for Theta Sigma was written in his blood. On that street, were dozens of children playing, despite obvious signs of violence in the surrounding areas they felt safe. The whole area was cordoned off but at the sight of Chuckie, the Voiceless Others gave way. The children were more than happy to see both Susie and their former caretaker, Chuckie return. Susie always supplied them with food from the towns, or new children from families she brought here for safety, to provide company. New weapons also helped, to say the least, for the guards who had to fend off fire from all sides to protect the children. Chuckie entered the orphanage and asked one of his lieutenants, Smile, who had been running the orphanage in his absence. "Well you see, Mr Koschei. A woman came…she was most insistent on caring for the children. Said she wanted to help out in your name." "Susie?" "No, another woman. A stranger, said she came from the north. Wanted to help out, act in your honour, according to her." Chuckie laughed saying "No one does anything in my name, only in the name of Koschei the Deathless. I'd be lucky for Susie here to do anything in my name, and she's one of my oldest friends." Then the girl walked in, she was wearing a white evening gown and carrying a small baby in her arms. She was crying at the blood all over her dress. Smile walked over to her and asked "Did Marlene make it?" The stranger shook her head and held the baby who was crying quite loudly up for Smile to take it to the nursery. The name Marlene was not known to Chuckie, who assumed she must have been a single mother-to-be who had made her way here during the riots.

Chuckie walked over to the woman attentively. "So, you're the woman who's been helping my people in these desperate times. From the bottom of my heart, I, Koschei the Deathless would like to sincerely thank you." She looked into his eyes and he knew it was her, after all these years. The girl he had loved and lost when he was only two. Megan, she had teased him to fight her crush for him, which he reciprocated. Despite his heartbreak, he hadn't felt this way in a long time. "Megan. It is good to see you." "Chuckie. I never forgot…Oh, I'm sorry I must look a right mess. I wanted to help out…my village wanted to send aid to the Capitol and so I smuggled myself in and made my way here. I said I was doing it in your name in case anyone here knew you. Turns out they did." Chuckie wrapped his hands around hers and said "Well, this is no coincidence." They talked for about half an hour about nothing. All of Chuckie's violent thoughts were gone now, the presence of both Megan and the children seemed to have an unnatural soothing effect on him. Their lives unfurled before one another until Susie came to urge Chuckie onward, to get back to Lil. "Goodbye, Megan," Chuckie said embracing her before kissing her. Taken aback, Megan finally put a smile on her face. "It wasn't your fault, it never is anyone's," he said indicating the room where Marlene had just died in childbirth. Megan then cried and waved him goodbye. "When all this is over, Megan, I'll see you."

Chuckie and Susie headed for the centre of town where they found Pandak's base ablaze. It was the Court of Gallifrey, where his followers had been holding show trials for the past three weeks, and it looked like there had just been a great battle here. No, it was the Rani. Inside the courthouse, they found Lil savagely beating each and every man who came at her before confronting Pandak himself with a sword she had taken from a suit of armour. Pandak was wearing ceremonial robes whilst presiding over the show trial of a young mother, for being Killoran. "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't bleed a fascist like you dry." Susie shouted out imploringly to her friend. "Mercy, Lil. He was our ally once, if we're going to have unity…we need to spare him at least." "And let the Purist movement survive and all its evil with it? Sorry, Suse." Raising her sword, Lil hesitated momentarily. Chuckie then said "Lil, think of your mother and father. Pandak is a father and grandfather to many people across the planet. His youngest child is only eleven. And he has a two year old great grandchild, do you want them to lose someone like you lost your mother and father?" Lil leered at Chuckie for that directly "Sorry, Chuck. Law of the jungle." As she made her killing motion, Chuckie held out his hand and screamed "Lil! Look at me! You will obey me! You will obey me! Do not kill him!" Lil resisted the influence of Death's Champion over her as best she could but eventually she lowered her sword and cut directly through Pandak's face. "You will never have Gallifrey…scum." Then she kicked him in the face and stalked off with Chuckie and Susie.

"Lil, that was very big of you. I know it must hurt not being able to avenge everyone we lost that day on the blood of a turncoat, but we appreciate all you did there, you probably saved a lot of innocent citizens today, just by taking out his goons. That makes you a hero now more than ever," Susie said putting her hand on Lil's shoulder in congratulations. Lil dismissed it and continued to walk on. "Why does she have these mood swings all the fucking time?" "Because Suse, she went full Rani and we made her hold back. Once you go full Rani, you can never go back. And I made her go back." "What did you do to her in there? You started commanding her to spare him?" "Yes and she's too strong willed, Suse. No one can control her." Lil stormed off in defiance as they made their way to the Panopticon. Chuckie's tracer pinged to indicate Phil and Kimi were in there. With Tommy? "Well, either my sister found a severed hand or Tommy's back. We've got to get to the Panopticon. Looks like the Revolution might finally end."

**London, 2025**

The Master awoke to the face of a pretty young nurse, and wondered why he had dreamt of Megan, in that dream where all his friends had horrible dialogue and his memories of it were dreary and lacked descriptive language, as if he didn't want to remember the flashback that well. A pretty young blonde girl was tending to the bandage on his foot. She looked familiar. "Miss Grant?" "No, Valerie Jones. My grandmother's maiden name is Grant. Jo Grant. I think you knew her? You're the Master, right?" "Yes…Yes, I am indeed." The girl blushed with admiration, batting her eyelids. "Ooh, she used to tell stories about you. I never thought I'd really get to meet someone as intelligent or, dare I say, cunning as you. Even now, in these dreadful times." The Master smiled at her childlike demeanour around him. "Why do you use the past tense regarding your grandmother, dearie?" "Well, she and my Granddad Cliff died during the Occupation of London." The Master felt a twinge of pain, even as his enemy, he always admired Miss Grant for her innocence, beauty and spunk. Her death was like hearing that Gallifrey had died at the Doctor's hands. He couldn't bear the thought of losing her again. Then he noticed how this girl was the very image of her grandmother and began to stroke her face, putting his hand on her chin. The girl smiled at him cheerfully. "How old are you, girl?" "18. Old enough to work. Old enough to do a lot of things." She put her hand on his thigh sensuously. "Well, you're a good nurse, anyway. And the very image of your grandmother." Valerie patted him on the back and left as the Master proceeded to check out her rear end, waddling with all gorgeous 100 pounds of it. Thinking, the Master realised something. He had loved Megan, had children with her, and they raised orphans together after the revolution, with the help of the veterans of his gang. It always seemed to be Miss Grant who stopped him from destroying the world back when he fought her, the Doctor and UNIT all those years ago. So, was it love? Was that real? He supposed it was, judging by the Doctor and his capacity for love, but this was definitely lust. He knew that. But all his evil thoughts had gone from his head, in place of dirty thoughts about Valerie.

For the next week or so, the Doctor didn't return and there was no sign of him. Reports said a solar storm had occurred shortly after he left, which gave the slightest possibility that his Time Vortex Manipulator had sent him hurtling a couple of weeks forward. Shoddy form of time travel. The Master couldn't care less, because now Valerie was his personal nurse. She dealt with mood swings, and was surprised how well the therapy worked, considering the man's reputation. They got closer and closer all the time. She ended up staying up late with him. Eventually one night he said, in a most nonchalant fashion "You're fucking sexy and I would love to bang you right now." "Well…I've only just met you, but it's almost like I've known you my whole life." "Your grandmother didn't say no back in the seventies. Ah, the memories of that time in that prison cell." "Oh fuck it, I think I'm falling in love with you." The Master shrugged his shoulders saying "It doesn't matter to me, because I haven't gotten any in over a century that was consensual. So…" She kissed him passionately and despite having a large cast on his foot, he was able to grab her with great passion and force her onto the bed. She certainly had the body of an eighteen year old he noticed as he stripped the nurse's uniform from her. Full breasts and a great flat, toned stomach to boot. He kissed her breasts quite passionately as she started moaning from the feeling of his penetration. "Say it! Say what you always used to say in the stories," she screamed in passion. He whispered in her ear "I am the Master, and you will obey me!"

The sex would continue every night, and gosh was it really good sex. Even after he healed and was dismissed from the infirmary, he begged Clara permission to stay in the same room as Valerie, which was quite nice, considering her nursing duties, she had a private room in the worker's quarters, half a mile away from City Hall. The Master thought he was probably going a bit nymphomaniac, he knew the girl certainly was since every night she had him on top of her. He needed sex, as every night it stopped his dark thoughts. It was women like his companion Aillia and his old partner, Megan, who kept him from turning dark. Women, they were his weakness. "Always the women," he had told the Doctor aboard the Valiant when he was shot and killed by his unwilling wife, Death. He got a job coordinating weapons for the Children of Time as well as developing them. He got to know the members. Clara Oswald was the leader, Malcolm Taylor was the chief scientist, the military leader was Dorothée McShane, once known as Ace, and Captain Mike Yates, now a geriatric, was a PR official. Wilfred Mott had joined the team and the Master got to know him better through mechanical work. Each and every one of the Doctor's allies who were part of the Children of Time grew to accept that the Master had changed, even Private Jackson, despite everything between them. He even began asking them to call him Chuckie or Charles. Many of them took this to heart and welcomed him with open arms as Chuckie Finster, not as the Master. Though, Valerie continued to call him the Master, because she preferred the concept of the Master having sex with her to the prospect of having sex with Chuckie Finster. To be fair, I think we all would prefer that.

He told the children at night when their work shifts were over stories of Gallifrey and of his battles alongside and against the Doctor. He told them mainly the tales of his infancy, of the bravest baby he ever knew, Tommy Pickles. Of how he never knew his mother, but found great love from his father and later from his stepmother. Of his friends, the intrepid time twins, and their arguments and misadventures, Phil and Lil DeVille. He told them of the kindest girl he ever knew, his sister, Kimi and how he always cared for her and how she had always been there for him when he needed family most of all. He insisted that blood was not thicker than water and that Kimi was more his sister than any daughter of his parents could have been. The kids grew to love the adventures and started fitting them around one another and loved Chuckie like a father. As he grew fonder of them, he told them of the orphanage he once ran and that he would do the same if he could know kids as nice as this. When the stories got old, he told them of the Doctor. The greatest hero who ever lived. A girl, Ciara, asked him "Are you the Doctor?" He laughed at that. "No and I never will be." "If you're not the Doctor then Tommy must be the Doctor." The Master quietly shushed the youngster and continued to tell the tale of "_Doctor Who and the Deadly Assassin."_

Well, even in a post-apocalyptic wasteland, the Master could find love and friendship. It's pretty obvious the world had ended if that was happening. The day came that London fell however. And the Master was called into war. That day was 26th October 2025. The day the Doctor returned to London. But, before then on 5th October, Clara Oswald and Wilfred Mott appointed him to help in the weaponisation of a vehicle they had captured from the Alliance. "Are you sure you up for it, Chuckie?" "Course I am, Wilf. Any day?" The giant mechanical Reptar which he drove through Paris as a toddler stood before him in the mechanical workshop as he said "Some things never change, do they Finster?"


	26. Everybody Might Live, One Day

**Chronopolis, 2025**

Sitting across from the CEO of Rossum, the Doctor mused on his presence here. He had received new clothes, ones he found more stylish than before. A red jacket, some dark combats and a green t-shirt which he had worn when he was a young man, around the time he got married these clothes tended to be his style then. Of course Smith would know that. Smith was the name he had taken to calling himself. John Smith. Well, after about 1810 years of life, the age he had been when he created this clone, although he always lied and said he was closer to 900, originality wasn't his strong suit, repetition always manages to substitute imagination somehow when you're old. After the Time War, he liked to lie about his age in case any of his enemies from his seventh and eighth incarnations caught up with him. This man was his tenth incarnation, all that was left of him. Older now. "How long have you known?" Smith asked him with an intent look in his eyes. "That you might have more Time Lord than I told her…since you were born. You may be a human who cannot regenerate. But like a Time Lord, you age far slower than the average human. You have one heart. One life. And the average lifespan of our first body is somewhere between 500-700 years. There was every chance you would age like a normal human being…but my then current body was already about four or five years old at that point. You would still have outlived her…barring accidents."

Above Smith's chair was a portrait of Rose Tyler, wizened by age, but quite stylish in her clothing. "Did you marry her in the end?" the Doctor asked. "Oh yes. Not long after you left us. A couple of years. Over the course of the next decade we had three children; Mickey, Donna and Peter. Lovely kids, honest to a fault. They're all dead too. One quarter Time Lord didn't give them my longevity and even little Donna lived to be a hundred and fifteen." "How old are you now?" "550 next birthday. Our birthday. And you must be close to 3000 now, Father?" "Don't call me that." "Why not? On the birth cert Pete Tyler forged me my parents were John Smith Sr. and Donna Noble. It caused hell when I met the Donna of that Earth. She managed one of our business fronts…H.C. Clements. She didn't take too kindly to being called my mother. Said I must have mummy issues." The two Doctors laughed at one another. "That's Donna alright. I explained the parallel Earths to her, but she still felt uncomfortable about the whole thing." The silence lasted another two minutes. "Was she happy? Rose. Did you make her happy?" "Very. Until we noticed I remained younger than her when we hit the OAP demographic. Then we knew you were wrong. I was more Time Lord than any of us could have imagined." "I thought…with the Bad Wolf…you might live to be very old together." Smith laughed at that suggestion. "You purged her of every last bit of that power on the Game Station, Father. She was human, completely human. Everything she did was so human." "Well, I thought she became more possessive of me after my regeneration…which is why I thought it was still there…deep inside her. That power. Raw time energy. It's still in Captain Jack anyway."

The silence continued for another few moments until the Doctor inquired with, "And your children?" "Mickey and Peter died in World War IV. Their kids and grandkids are all long gone, and their descendants forget I'm even related to them at all. Donna moved in with me after her husband left her. Then I became her full time nurse after she turned ninety. She died in her sleep when we were watching telly." "I'm sorry." Smith stood up at that with anger. "Are you, Father? Are you really? No one should watch his children die…it's probably the worst thing, to lose a child. But to lose a child to old age, what kind of misfortune do you dub that, Father?" "I lost my second wife before I even married her. She died at the Library. Yep, her past self forced me to marry her in a parallel universe she created by refusing to kill me. Time travellers suffer a lot in terms of family." Smith turned round and hung his head in sorrow. "I went to Torchwood then. Lived in Canary Wharf, staring at the former point the Cybermen had gone through. With my salary, I holidayed at Darlig Ulv Stranden every year. Hoping…praying…to see you or her come out. Three centuries I did that for. No family, no friends. Not even peace of mind. I experimented with dimension shunting technology in the 24th century, Torchwood had it perfected by then. The Calling came. A familiar voice. A woman's voice. So distant. It wasn't Rose, it wasn't Donna. It was someone from your life, Father. From Gallifrey." The Doctor walked over to his clone with intrigue. "Who was this woman?" Smith shushed the Doctor at that. "Nobody important. In my dreams, she came to me. She told me to follow my heart and put the dimension shunting technology to maximum. Said I would find providence on the other side. Back in my home universe. So I did. Then I felt my mind being pried apart by something. The woman turned into a creature, an avatar for some power. They promised me something and I agreed to become their anchor to that universe. Torchwood tech gave them the ability to repair their fleet, stranded in the Void." "The Singulars," the Doctor said through gritted teeth. Smith chuckled at the anger of the Doctor.

"They cried out for help and I gave them the ability to enter my universe and salvage the technology. But the bleed lasted too long. Torchwood ordered it closed, and they knew I knew how to do that. I refused. They felt like kindred to me, a new family. I wouldn't let them. So they threw me into the breach, which allowed them to seal it, since I, as the anchor, was in the Void now. Well, let me tell you. Whoever called it "the Howling" was very factual. Anyone and anything in it, just screamed and screamed for eternity. But the ships, they were powerful now, thanks to all the tech I had given them. We just needed an anchor to your universe…" "Why did you come here?" "The Overlord has plenty of reason to hate you, as much as I do." "You hate me?" "With every fibre of my being, Father. I was promised a normal life, a human life with the woman I loved, by you. But no, I'm stuck somewhere in between mortal and immortal instead. And you told me, hell I believed it before you even said it, that she and I would be happy and grow old with one another. But no!"

The Doctor moved to comfort his clone who bitterly dismissed him. "Don't touch me!" "Okay. I see where I stand with you then. So tell me this, "Son", since I know why you hate me so much…then why do they?" "You destroyed Gallifrey." "Yeah, but they would have too, the Singulars and their masters. Why does this Overlord hate me?" "You and the Overlord have…a history." "Ah, I see, Mrs Roosevelt has returned, or is it the Terrible Zodin? Perhaps it's MacGyver that snake." Smith laughed at the Doctor's ineptitude. "They are none of the above." "Then who or what are they?" Smith silenced the Doctor by placing a finger upon his lips. "The Overlord will let you know in good time. Once you give me the Moment." "Never, this is my bargaining tool. If I'm going to give it up, I need to speak with the Overlord here. And I'm not taking no for an answer. What do you say, Sonny Boy?" John Smith growled and approached a speaker on the wall. "Patch us through to the Mothership."

From the wall emerged a televisual screen, upon which a dark room appeared with two Singulars standing before the Overlord in their regalia. "Smith? Where is the Moment, you buffoon? The Doctor must be here somewhere." The Doctor approached and said "Your voice is familiar. But…I cannot place it." The Overlord laughed heartily "He does not even treat me like a sentient being, Smith. I take it he wishes to treat with me, concerning the Moment? Well then, if you give me the Moment, in exchange you shall have…your brother." Dil appeared on the viewing screen in chains. "Bro, don't do it, please. She'll destroy the Earth now that she knows you're here. That's the ultimatum. If you aren't handed over within three days of your presence being alerted to the invaders, then they destroy the Earth, to draw you out. Or kill you if you're already there." "But we have prisoners." "Do you think Phil DeVille is a cause for my concern, Doctor? His sister and he are not that influential, you know." "Then…what of your time vector generators? They keep the time stream anchored to your continuity." "Oh, soon enough we won't be needing them. But we need Dil and the Moment all the same." "Why do you need Dil?" Smith chided in on that one "If you had let me finish earlier, I would have told you that his desire for unity among the disparate Time Lords drew us here. We answered his prayers. He used to speak with us via a ham radio, and we eventually came forth to this world through our connection to him. He keeps us here. Though I doubt he's as vital now as he was in the beginning, thanks to the presence of the time vector generators."

"Doctor, we will allow you to stay as our guest in Chronopolis, on the condition that you return to us the Moment and surrender on the Day of Reckoning," the Overlord chuckled with pleasure. "When is the Day of Reckoning?" "October 26th, the year 2025. The day we achieve true mastery of time." "Who are you?" "You will find out then." The screen turned to black as the Doctor turned to Smith. "John…if I'm your father, then he's your uncle. And this planet is the planet of your mother, Donna. Why do you help them?" John Smith put his hands on the Doctor's shoulders and said "Father, we are recreating time, can't you see it? This will just be a building block for the New Time Lord Empire…the events here will be wiped and anyone and anything can be recreated. Including you." The Doctor laughed at that "Well, you'll be the new me, I take it." "The Overlord thinks me worthy of your regenerations when we have dealt with you." "Do you honestly believe that…my regenerations?" "Yes, is something wrong?" "No…just…a feeling of having come full circle that's all. Hmm?" The Doctor smiled that away and went to his quarters, whilst John Smith sat before the portrait of the elderly Rose saying "Soon my beauty, you shall have his regenerations on my behalf, and we can rule time and space together. The Overlord is just one creature and the New Time Lord Empire, one race. No match for the new and improved Doctor and Rose Tyler, are they?" He made a move as if to kiss her hand but realising she was dead, he began to sob uncontrollably.

**The Panopticon, Gallifrey**

Three weeks of terror in the Capitol had left them pinned down here, it seemed. The civil servants and surviving Chancellery Guards had armed themselves in defiance of Morbius and held the Panopticon against the crowd successfully. Commanding their forces were Dil Pickles with the aid of his great grand uncle, Quences and the Avatroid, Badger. Quences had smuggled himself back to the House of Lungbarrow, intending to amass the Great Houses into a large army to strike the Capitol with. "Don't worry, dear Dylan," he had told Dil before leaving. "Badger here will help you, you can communicate with me through him, eh? When I come back, I'll make Gallifrey like it once was. There are many Kithriarchs, older than I even, who feel the old ways of our democracy should be restored, with the Kithriarchs reigning over the President and the High Council. Morbius changed it so that no one had any real power except him and his adjutants. A vile ruffian. I never liked him." "So, great-grand-uncle, you loathe the Presidency and have little interest in furthering our plans. Well then, if you're going to undermine the Presidency like this, then I refuse." "Refuse what, boy?" "The Presidency." "You won't be President, boy!" Quences chuckled and gave Dil a playful slap. "You'll be the next Kithriarch of the most powerful of the Great Houses…our own." Dil stormed off and said "Send my love to Mom, Dad and Lulu. Don't rush into anything, either, with your army. We're fine for the moment, Uncle." "But Dylan…" "Goodbye, Uncle Quences!" Quences was vexed at his great-grand-nephew for that snub. "You'll die here! You know you need me, boy! You'll be dead just like your brother!"

The last three weeks had been brutal to say the least but Dil was holding out hope of salvation. The most brutal event was when the Morbius Loyalists attacked from the sewers. Dil's forces had driven them back, slightly, but they were still fighting over a small block of territory with them. Rufus, that old lickspittle, was their commander. He was his own little Rassilon, acting as adjutant to that monster all those years ago. He was quite vain, largely due to the fact that he was Morbius' second cousin five times removed by marriage, well to Morbius' brother he was. Rumours spread around the militias guarding the Panopticon that Morbius lived somehow. Though Dil dismissed these thoughts as mere fantasies or legends before their time. He never bothered to listen, believing Rufus to have declared himself Morbius Reborn. He remembered how the brain of Morbius had been taken at the end and whilst that may be the case, a new body for it would take a long time for his followers abroad to perfect. The High Council were away from the city that was true, but Dil and his militia would hold the Panopticon for them until their return. Though, as more and more medics and aid workers came into the Capitol, their word of mouth made the likelihood of that happening very slim. The rest of the planet had abandoned the city to its fate. Provincial governors dismissed it as the right of the city's people to overthrow their corrupt master and allowed mob rule to continue for the time being. Dil feared if anyone came from the rest of the planet it was to seize the city amidst the chaos, rather than aid it. Good luck with that, he thought.

Then came the day something very odd happened. The militia had retaken a lot of ground from the Morbius Loyalists, due to their absence. There had been a rumbling, some form of earthquake Dil had assumed, close to their territory in the Panopticon. It could be felt as a rumbling to Dil and his men, but not in their section. In their section it had caused ruptures from the ground. Dil assumed either the Loyalists were buried, incinerated or hiding in the sewers. Then he found the service lift having just risen to the ground from beneath the rubble. Inside was a figure who seemed to be cowering in fear, possibly due to the earthquake. He had some black stubble and slightly long purple hair. Then Dil saw he bore the outfit of the Voiceless Others. "Hello. Are you okay? My name's Dil. Are you one of the Imperator's experiments?" Then he saw the face of the sleeping and cowering figure. It was his big brother, Tommy. "Tommy, you're alive. Oh thank Rassilon!" Dil embraced his brother heartily and Tommy reciprocated the hug. "Hey, bro. Is it over? The exploding?" "You mean…you were at the eye of the storm, weren't you, bro?" "Well…I kind of caused the explosion. It's a long story, man. Where's Morbius?" "Dead. Where the fuck have you been for the past three weeks." "With Morbius, who's very much alive, yet also dead… Before you ask, it's because of a Paradox Machine." Dil was startled by that last point. "Did you destroy it or what?" "No…just his time manipulating hive mind. The Paradox Machine should still be standing…there might be a way to find it through the sewers." "You're not going anywhere, bro." "Of course…I wouldn't expect otherwise. Yoink!" Grabbing Dil's staser, Tommy made a mad dash to one of the holes made by the explosion and jumped through into the sewers.

It stank to the high heavens. Checking his old comms device, Tommy had reactivated it before leaving, so the others could trace his signal, he began to record himself. "If anyone ever finds this transmission, which is unlikely, you must know that Morbius is very much alive by the time this was recorded, despite what others may have said to the contrary. He has been plotting to destroy our society for a while now and replace it with his Empire across Time and Space, with him and none other at the helm. This is his belief, and the belief of that cult of intergalactic scumbags he runs. I do not hold to such a belief, my friends. Instead, I ask you. Would you stand for this? As barbaric as it has become, what has happened in the city is a sign of change. If anyone does come across this transmission, lay down your arms and work in coalition to rebuild Gallifrey, something we should have done a long time ago. I have so many people to say goodbye to, some I haven't even met, and never will probably. So, one last goodbye to you all shall suffice. Goodbye." Turning off the recorder, Tommy made his way through the shadows towards the base of operations of the Loyalists.

After a few hours, he stumbled upon a small outlet where a few Loyalists sat at a campfire alongside Morbius. The burly Rufus stood beside Morbius who had been scarred in the explosions immediately beforehand. A young woman was swabbing Morbius' forehead with a cloth. "How could the laboratory be destroyed? Rufus, you told me you had Loyalist members of the Chancellery Guard stationed there." "Pickles must have escaped, my Lord Imperator." Morbius dismissed the girl whom Tommy could now see was Angelica with two black eyes on her face. "You hurt me that time you bitch! How my future self, put up with you…I'll have to find a more suitable mistress if I am to take his place, that's for sure." Angelica started crying as she sat down beside Harold, the boy who followed her around constantly in their youthful years. Tommy felt sorry for the boy. He had stayed with the Loyalists for so long, when it was highly likely his family were Purists, or in some form of opposition to the government, simply because he was infatuated with Angelica. The boy would be dead sooner or later, though Tommy wished that weren't the case, and held out hope for him. Harold was much heavier now and had more battle scars than Morbius. There was no sight in his left eye, as it had become a clear shade of white with a scar running through it. Tommy presumed the boy had gained weight due to the fact that one of his legs was severely weak by the look of it, but he had actually lost some in comparison to how burly he had once been. Glospin and Owis were nowhere to be seen. Morbius must have sent them back to keep Quences on his toes about attacking the city.

Tommy checked the staser, it had enough rounds to kill Morbius, Rufus and perhaps maim the two guards beside them. The rest he would spare, at least Angelica and Harold. Going by the sad expression on his cousin's face, he doubted she was happy with her ties anymore. As much as he hated to say it, he felt a strong urge to defend her against whatever onslaught was necessary. Then, with staser drawn, he walked into the clearing. "Tommy Pickles! You old dog! Tell me it wasn't you who destroyed my laboratory was it? Or else I'll have to get Rufus or Harold to kill you." "Your reign is truly over now, Morbius. These are the only Loyalists you have left…" "I have more, across the stars." "They're not going to give their allegiance to a young man claiming to be Morbius, they'll follow the remnants of your future self. Rally a cause around him, or a clone of him. That's the best you can hope for. You, the Paradox, are doomed." "No! I refuse! I built Gallifrey up from the grass roots! I made us an empire! I crushed the Sycorax, I forged colonies for our people! I am the Emperor of Time and Space! I will not be crushed by an erstwhile little insect like you! A nothing from some ancient, decrepit hovel which has the tenacity to call itself a Great House!" Morbius was standing and bellowing across the sewers. "I, Morbius, will not be defeated by the likes of you!" "Whether I do it or not, Morbius, you have no hope." "But that's where you're wrong…" He held out the Rod and Sash of Rassilon. "With this…I can use the Eye of Harmony to manipulate time and space itself to my whim. Everything that ever was…ever will be…will become Morbius. The universe will be carved in my graven image and insects like you shall be rooted out and erased in my name." "God, you despots and your capacity for ham!" Tommy fired at Morbius but one of his guards took the shot, and then keeled over. Tommy looked at the corpse as Morbius chuckled with glee. "Is that what you are, Thomas? A cold blooded killer? Never, you say. Well, you are now. That boy was just a farmer…I gave his father's farm added grants during my Presidency and had him be one of the army suppliers. I made his family rich, because I admired them. They were good humble folk, with no descent from any Great House who strived to earn an honest living. He was a kind and generous chap. He only served in the Loyalists because I gave him a scholarship to the Academy. Dropping out, he became my bodyguard, to provide scholarships for younger siblings of his. His name was Septimus, the seventh of thirteen children. And you murdered him…Do you think someone who kills boys like that, is worthy of assassinating me?"

Tommy merely stood there, his mouth open and a cold sweat beginning to form on his brow. A murderer. Finally, the last of his principles were gone out the window. Yes, he had killed before and would kill again. But perhaps what Morbius had told him rang true somehow. Septimus was just a boy and Tommy had shot him dead. Throwing the staser to the ground he got on his knees and said "No. Not I. Find someone else to do it." He looked at Rufus, Harold and the other guard then said "Come on! Kill him!" "Rufus, finish him off. I've got an Eye of Harmony to manipulate." Morbius, his other bodyguard, Harold and Angelica stalked off. Angelica took one last look at her cousin, who merely said "I hope that your children are happy, Angelica. Since it's the last chance to say it, I guess I love you, cousin." Angelica shed a tear for her cousin and walked away. Rufus picked up the staser and, grabbing Tommy put him up against the wall and raised the weapon to his head. "Tell me, Rufus. Do you love Morbius?" "I love my Imperator and serve him justly." "Well…he's fucking Angelica. He took her away from you and don't think I don't know that. Kill him, and get your woman back, that's what I say. But by all means finish me off first." Rufus laughed at that suggestion "Are you really that desperate to kill him, Pickles?" "More than you can imagine." "You truly are that girl's cousin. She's determined to achieve her wants, you're determined to do what you think is right. Pig headedness runs in your family it seems." "I guess you're right. Come on, then. Get it over with." Tommy closed his eyes as Rufus prepared to pull the trigger and then nothing happened. Tommy opened his eyes to see Rufus standing there with a blade through his chest. Rufus collapsed upon the removal of the blade from his chest cavity and, as he was about to regenerate his head was wiped clean off by the same blade by a different hand and his corpse slumped to the floor.

"No one gets to kill this idiot except me, you here?" Standing over his body was Kimi Finster, with Phil DeVille standing beside her with his own blade lying before Rufus' neck, both were covered in Rufus' blood. "I told you those swords would come in handy, didn't I, Phil?" "Yep, Kimi. I guess I owe you five credits, don't I?" "Uh huh." "Rats." Tommy stood up before the two of them and said "Is this real? Am I fucking dreaming here?" "No, T. It's me, Phil and this is Kimi. A girl you owe an apology too. Still man, way to make an exit. Hope he's less of a screamer with you than he was with me and Lil, Kim." Kimi was standing there in her traditional blue outfit, her hair down to its normal length. She was striking a pose as if to say she was aloof to Tommy's presence. "So, Kimi, sorry I got you…" "Pregnant? Why should you be? I have the most beautiful son in the galaxy who's dying to meet his father and I'm certain you're dying to meet him. No, the other thing." "Sorry, for being a prisoner for five years and not contacting you when I was sprung by the Others, but it's not like any of us made regular visits to our family at that point, was it? But…I am sorry for not coming back, or bringing Rallon and Millennia with me. I'm sorry I nearly caused my cousin to have a miscarriage. I'm sorry for being a murderer." Kimi held Tommy up at that and said "Murderer? Who did you…" Tommy pointed to the body of Septimus. "He got in the way of Morbius when I fired. Just a farm boy, looking out for his family." "Did you make him suffer?" "No." "Did you do it on purpose?" "No." "Did you do it because you could?" "No." "Did you give up on stopping Morbius?" "Yes." Kimi smacked him at that point. "I don't care. That boy was misguided and you made an accident. You're still the man I love. And you didn't do anything to harm him apart from that, for business or pleasure. You are still Tommy Pickles, for he is this. Never cruel or cowardly, never gives up and never gives in. You didn't kill him in any painful way, therefore not cruel. You didn't kill him as a show of force, so not cowardly then. However, you gave up, you gave in. You let Morbius get away. And if there's one thing you, the man I love, or I, never do, we never, ever, ever give up! Now fucking kiss me!"

And kiss her he did, their lips locked in passion for what felt like an eternity to Phil, who merely made gagging noises before saying "You know you're making him give up more than actually stop the guy by keeping him here, Kim!" The couple released one another and blushed at their realisation of Phil's existence. "So Tommy, Morbius is alive and you're going to follow him." "Phil, when we find him I need you to go directly to the basement, there should be a way to this cannibalised Tardis console there. It's a Paradox Machine. Destroy it and Morbius will be dead again, I promise you that. Kimi, you and I are going to face him together." "I wouldn't have it any other way, T." "Are you going to kiss again, 'cuz we've got probably the whole of history to save." And with that Tommy, Kimi and Phil made a mad dash for the Panopticon. "Where is he by the way?" Phil asked during the run. "At the Eye of Harmony, unless he was slow, which judging by his present company and injuries is more likely than him actually being there."

"Hey, Tommy, look at this!" Kimi shouted at the two boys as they ran past her whilst she stopped at a door. Inside was an armoury containing semi-automatic laser rifles. "So, Tommy, tell me we can't use these." "Gladly." Tommy slammed the door shut "I don't do weapons anymore, Kim. You and Phil be my guests…I'm going to stop Morbius my own way." Kimi and Phil got their own weapons and followed the unarmed Tommy. Standing at the Eye of Harmony was Morbius wearing the Sash of Rassilon and holding the Rod standing above the Eye of Harmony. His bodyguard must have been sacrificed in some Pythia blood ritual he had performed immediately beforehand. Angelica and Harold cowered in fear nearby. Angelica saw her cousin and with a gleam of confidence in her eye went to Morbius. "Hey, Imperator. You know what…this whole plan is going to turn out to be a complete balls up and you know it! The entire city is against you, and they can just as easily take the Eye of Harmony from you by force." "By opening the Eye, I doom the city to destruction, the Sash will keep me alive but kill you all." "But our children are in…" "They are no children of mine they are the bastard offspring of my future self with his strumpet of a niece, thank you very much. I hope they all suffocate for the shame I have brought upon myself." Angelica launched herself at him as he cried "Incestuous whore! Get off me!" "I killed my daddy for you, you bastard!" Tearing at his wounded eye, she caused him to scream in pain as she was flung backwards and Harold caught her. "You'll die for that insolence, witch!" Harold stood in front of her and with that nasally voice of his cried "No, kill me first. I couldn't live without Angelica…but she can without me. I hope the Eye of Harmony destroys you first, scum!" Harold attacked Morbius and prepared to fling himself into the Eye only to have his throat cut. Tommy screamed in anger and came out of his hiding place, Kimi followed him whilst Phil went for the basement.

"No more, Morbius! This ends now!" Tommy withdrew his laser assault rifle. "I thought you didn't take one." "The use of weapons can end with the Revolution, Kimi. Not tonight." He fired upon Morbius several times, with Kimi following suit. "For Gallifrey! For victory! For the End of Time itself!" they unleashed their war cry in unison as the energy beams peppered Morbius. When their round was out, they suddenly saw him recover and stand up, after falling from the impact. "The Sash of Rassilon heals me, boy! And thanks to that Paradox Machine, I'm practically immortal." Morbius lunged himself at Tommy who was pinned to the ground. Kimi moved to strike Morbius only to be disarmed by his moves. "Venusian Aikido. Great martial art! Always knowing where your enemy is weak enhances it tenfold!" Morbius made a jab at Tommy's injured leg and all of a sudden every moment of agony he had ever experienced hit him in that one nervous centre, tearing apart his consciousness. "Fuck you!" Kimi fired her assault rifle at Morbius throwing him off Tommy. He recovered and launched himself at her and then knocked her to the floor. The injured duo crawled to one another as Morbius stood over them feeling victorious. "You've lost! Now why don't you two lovebirds just die! My future self was mad not to kill you two when he had the chance. Far too patient a man if you ask me." Tommy and Kimi grabbed one another's hand and smiled. "I hope…little…what's his name?" "Tommy Jr, but we like to call him Kengo. Well, mom does. It's Japanese…for firm. He looks just like you." Tommy smiled and began to suddenly pass out from the pain. "Hope…he's happy." Morbius took Kimi's blade from her back holster and prepared to severe Tommy's head. Kimi began to cry and said "Oh he is, he's just like his father. So brave. And like you…he needs others to be brave for him sometimes." Kimi stood up and punched Morbius in the face. "Oh, you bite back. Well, I have a sword and you don't, bitch." Then a figure of immense shadow in a black overcoat leapt upon him. "No one calls my sister a bitch!" Lil and Susie had secured Angelica and Harold who was still bleeding heavily, but alive, whilst Chuckie was dealing with Morbius.

Chuckie disarmed Morbius and threw the Sash of Rassilon from him. "Neat idea, using that thing on the Eye of Harmony. Heard it's got excellent restorative properties. Shame it'll take a while for them to heal this." Morbius made an offensive move to disarm Chuckie who merely moved himself behind Morbius and proceeded to severe his right arm. "Oh, you little shit! That was my favourite arm!" "I know, just look at the scrawniness of your left one. Won't be needing that." As Morbius succumbed to the pain he knelt down and Chuckie proceeded to severe his other arm from him. Then down below them, Phil DeVille fired upon the Paradox Machine with his laser assault rifle, causing it to break apart. And causing the basement to cave in. He got out of there as quickly as possible. Morbius suddenly started convulsing in pain more so than he had when losing his limbs. "No…I will not die…I cannot die." He proceeded to stand up and run for the Eye of Harmony. "If he throws himself in there…a paradox like him could destroy the planet." Chuckie raced after him but couldn't quite catch up. Before Morbius could jump in however, he received a stab wound through the chest from none other than the dying Harold Frumpkin. "I will never follow scum like you again. Never. And neither will Gallifrey." Morbius collapsed to the ground and then faded away, as if never existing. Angelica held him as he passed away. "Did I do good, Angelica?" "Yeah, kid. You did the best you ever could have," she replied through bitter tears. Harold's eyes rolled upwards as blood poured from his mouth and death overwhelmed him.

"Morbius is gone. All that remains now is what to do with this whore." Chuckie said grabbing Angelica by the hair. "Please, I can help you…just trust me. I'm your friend, guys." "I say we lynch her!" Lil said. "I say we cut her head off!" Kimi piped in. "She threatened our families so many times. She'd kill us in a heartbeat. I can see it in her mind." "Sounds like a plan, Kim." Susie begged them to stop, saying "Please you guys, she's lost and afraid. She's got no skills or nothing. She did what she had to, to survive." Dil Pickles suddenly arrived with his militia who had made a move to secure the Eye of Harmony, after scouts noticed the first effects of Morbius' ritual. "Ah, he's gone. I see what you have here too. Well, Finster. You have my permission to avenge my grandfather and uncle on this whore." Kimi handed Chuckie her sword and he proceeded to make a swinging motion with which to decapitate Angelica, until "Stop!" echoed across the Panopticon. The voice was Tommy's who had just risen from his injured state with the help of Lil and a newly arrived Phil. He spoke, albeit groggily. "She may be a traitor and she may have taken to Morbius' bed. And she may have butchered members of her own family. But she's still my cousin. I decided what to do with her, not Dil or his jumped up little guards! Have you no shame, little brother. We'd be sinking to her level by killing her, one of our own family!" Dil lowered his head in shame, as did Kimi and Lil. Phil said "I still think we should kill her!" "Think that all you want, but I think it's time the bloodshed stopped. Don't you?" Phil also bowed his head in shame. "I thought as much. Dil, what's happening in the rest of the city?" Tommy stood up now without support, albeit his limp was stronger than beforehand. "Well, Azmael came back. With an army behind him, no less. The rest of your Coalition, it seems. They couldn't be signalled so Azmael used his Tardis to find them and muster enough manpower to take back the city. The fighting's over. The Capitol is at peace."

And with that the team departed. All that remained were Tommy, Angelica and Susie over Harold's dead body. "We'll give him a good funeral, he can be the man who killed Morbius, even if Vansell or Azmael want that honour. The Hero of Gallifrey." Susie didn't believe a word of what she just said and merely bowed her head in grief for Harold. Tommy put his hands on his cousin's shoulder. "Angelica, there's no easy way to say this, but… the Coalition…they'll execute you and your kids…or at least hold them hostage. Revolutionaries will demand your heads. Get off Gallifrey…find somewhere to hide and take your kids with you. I'm doing this for their sake more than yours, they don't deserve to lose their mother and they don't deserve to die young either because of who their father was. Morbius' old Tardis must still be in the Panopticon somewhere. Take it and go." "Thanks, Pickles." Angelica embraced her cousin and said "I'll never forget this day. And I…I owe you my life." She ran off towards the sanctuary her children must have been in. Susie walked up to Tommy and said "I'm proud of you, T. You let her live." "I'm tired of death, Susie. I killed a young boy today trying to kill Morbius and now that he's gone…death is pointless. Today, just today, I hope that everybody lives. And if that can't happen…well at least I can save one woman and her children. Even if I loathe her." "Still, you've done well, Tom." Tommy and Susie embraced and walked off to follow their friends as dawn broke over the newly liberated Capitol. And this day was the first day of freedom Gallifrey had seen in any of the Rugrats' lifetimes.


	27. The Tale of the Widower and the Warrior

**The Mothership, the Sol System, 2025**

Several years in space can hurt the mind, numb it almost to the effects of anything else. The Rani had seen men in her command succumb to such a thing before, and she even liked to think she had it once or twice, during the wars. In this new war, she saw soldiers with a collective mind going mad. They devoured bodies and killed all they could in their path, these so-called "Lost Sons." Barbarians, not fit to rule time and space, it was as if Morbius had come again. Though her personal suspicions led her to think that way. The Overlord was someone from Gallifrey, she knew that much. The Rani even suspected they might be female, she outright believed it to say the least. She thought there were very few men, not even her brother, who could be this assertive and passionate. Those days died with chivalry, women were the strong ones now that the Renaissance and the Enlightenment had come and gone, or at least their equivalent on various planets, most of which accepted the females as such, or as equals. The Rani had lived too long now to think the Overlord was a man, because a man would have been pig headed enough to attack the Doctor directly, the Overlord had used their brains, like she and Phil had intended. For a man, her brother had matured into a pragmatist, she knew that much, as well as a far more patient person than she ever was. Chuckie Finster was like that also, though the Master was always clouded by his brotherly love for the Doctor, never dealing with him straight out, always hurting his loved ones or attacking somewhere else. She was her own woman; not a plaything of the gods like those fools. She had loved them both once. She had been in a relationship of some shape or form with both of them by then and considered them to have been the dearest of her friends once upon a time. Now, as adults, they had all become selfish renegades, united briefly by the Time War and now passionate enemies or crusaders for their own version of justice.

The Mothership was teeming with life, for an ancient wrecked ship it was quite impressive. It had origins from various planets across time and space; Sontar, Earth, Halcyon, Gallifrey… The Overlord and her New Time Lords liked to keep themselves secretive, though the Rani had managed to recognise and find rapport with one of them. Two years ago, she went into the brig to meet someone who said they had information on the Overlord. Whilst there she met a woman in a dark hood, who told her of the Overlord's plans to weed out the Rani and her brother. This had given the Rani time to prove herself capable on the combat field by suppressing the resistance in Switzerland and out of gratitude the Overlord had named her Admiral of the Fleet and Phil was given the Mayoralty of the Greater London Area, seeing as it was a hotbed for rebel activity. The Overlord seemed keen to keep them on, but since the Monk's capture a year ago, things had not quite been the same. He had the capability to communicate with them and did so in the early days, but ceased, despite full communications remaining active. The Rani presumed he had gone mad, or comatose. But she knew he had given up on them at least. To find him, she hunted down the informant and confronted her in the prison block. "I need to find my brother. And you have to be in espionage, how else could you know this stuff? So find him for me." "Can't…Overlord's orders." The Rani strode before her counterpart and said "Look, you're one of the few sane people left on this ship. I need your help…because no one else will give it to me." "Shan't…" Then the Rani advanced into the shadows upon the woman who grabbed her in resistance. Pulling off her hood by force, she revealed the face of the woman, which she still couldn't entirely decipher, until she saw a tiny mark on her neck. It was the mark of her old self-titled "Suicide Squad," she had served in during the Time War. That was when she recognised her old friend, Susie Carmichael.

"Impossible…Susie. But you died in the Time War…you were still on the Eye of Orion when the Emperor Dalek imbued himself with the power of the Cruciform. We thought you were just another one of his sacrifices." Susie smiled and said "I was rescued…by a Time Scoop." "Who was behind it, Suse?" "The Overlord…she…" "Ha, I knew it was a she." "Yes, she was from our future, from the end of the war. I was saved but we were trapped…in the Void, shortly after I arrived, trying to escape the War. Centuries passed…and we all slowly went mad. Some of her soldiers, she was a commander during the Time War, you see, turned to cannibalism. So she made them like the others…her specialists…the Singulars. This platoon…it was like ours…only these were prisoners who had been placed in Shadow Houses. They weren't supposed to exist, and the non-existent had no other purpose than to cease existing. So they became a part of a great expedition into the Void, led by the Overlord herself. That's why they call themselves the Lost Sons of Gallifrey. They don't exist, that's why we can't sense any Time Lord from them. They're paradoxes. The Singular technology stopped them from being savage, and eventually the Overlord augmented herself. I was left as the last pure Time Lord aboard, to preserve our race, she claimed. Later, I found out the truth. She wanted a non-bestial mind like mine to reach out and…communicate with people…low-level telepaths…to make gateways to other universes. We did and…so many universes died as we scavenged them for fuel. It was caused by a power drain emanating from the 21st century, our desperation for fuel. We knew we needed to escape, and so, we reached out back to our own universe, where the Time Lord machinery could be refuelled. How delighted we were to discover none other than Irving Braxiatel himself as our anchor. The rest…you know what happened next, don't you, Lil?"

"What other universes did you reach?" "One where the Cybermen developed on Earth…our beloved CEO of Rossum comes from there." "Yes, who is he? He seems familiar." "A clone of the Doctor and one of his companions. Nothing more, nothing less. A man with ambition and his intelligence, even if he is an old frail human. He revealed to us that the Doctor had survived the Time War…and the Master." "The Master is dead now anyway. Our records on Earth told us of this resurrection. He died on Christmas 2010 at the mansion of a billionaire named Naismith." "And yet he survived, through a hybrid son of his. My agents identified him in London, the other day and some of our prisoners come from his followers on Earth." The Rani had to laugh at that. "How could a fool like him ever generate a cult about himself?" Susie had to laugh back, "Yes, he does act second fiddle in a lot of cases here, I must admit. Odd that he could muster a following, alright." It was then that the Rani noticed how much older her friend had become, she had grey hair down to her shoulders, but apart from a couple of superficial scars, she was still the same woman. "You haven't regenerated since before the War, then?" "No, I don't want too either. When I die this time it will be final, I swear it. No regeneration for me anymore. Not if our people are going to become like those beasts we call soldiers if we survive. I'm sorry to admit this, Lil, but the Doctor and the Master are our only hope. You, your brother and the other Time Lords must see that and join them against the Overlord and her Lost Sons. Knowing your brother, he may already have, I know you hate it when he thinks without you, but still…it's what he may have done that matters." The Rani was very clearly angered at Susie's statement now. "He…annihilated…our…world…twice. He must die! The Doctor deserves to die! Nothing you say can change that Susie Carmichael! Nothing! If the universe were to fall asunder in the morning, I will never ally myself with that hypocrite. The Master, of all people should know better than to side with him against the rest of us! If it's the Overlord or the Doctor, then I'm sorry but I choose the Overlord." And with that she vacated back to her chambers, leaving Susie behind with tears streaming from her face. She opened a locket bearing the face of her granddaughter, whom she had met during her travels on 22nd and 23rd century Earth, in order to calm herself. Susan. How she missed her...

The Rani summoned a guard to bring the prisoner, Dil Pickles, to her chambers for further questioning. Her old friend was summarily thrown at her feet and he began to stammer in her presence. "Lady Rani…it humbles Dil to be in your presence…we are very grateful." "We?" she said, before shaking her head and continuing. "What did you and your brother speak of? You can tell me…I don't want to harm him…physically…yet. I am not the Overlord." Dil stood up and grabbed her, his appearance more consistent than earlier. He appeared to have the face of a young man with red hair now and was much taller. "He is our brother…" "He's not mine. What are you talking about with all this pluralism?" "We can't tell you…Dil does not…want to talk to you. I, Pablo…" "The Rani gave herself the mother of all face palms. "Dil, it's been centuries since you were this weird. I thought you changed after you invented that Hispanic waiter persona and became a ladies man. You are Dil Pickles, or Braxiatel, not a dead fish." "Pablo lives inside me." And with that the Rani started kicking him furiously until he relented. "Okay, jeez. I was hoping the schizophrenic thing would work out in the end. Tommy and I…we discussed…one another. Nothing too intimate was told." "Not even the identity of the Overlord." And with that Dil's paranoia resurfaced as he covered his ears and began dragging his rear end along the carpet screaming "Mustn't tell, Dil. Dil must never tell that secret. Dil is a good boy, isn't he?" He gave a large smile to the Rani who merely replied with "You can tell me. I am after all your friend, aren't I, Dil?" "She'll do worse to me…if I…if I…" The Rani placed a gun to his crotch and he said "Okay, come closer and you'll know."

**Gallifrey**

The first day of freedom had dawned with Azmael, Borusa and Pandak being anointed by the High Council for their bravery, though many of the High Council members disapproved of Pandak, to retain their positions and a chance at the Presidency, they appeased every faction of the rebels, with the exception of the Voiceless Others, who were exonerated on the condition that they disband, but not honoured. Chuckie followed suit and sent his followers packing. For Tommy, it was easy. He could move in with Kimi and their son. For others, like Phil and Lil, it was so far from normal. Their old home was gone, burnt to the ground during the riots. Good riddance, Phil had thought, he had far too many bad memories of there. They had successfully caused the death of their parents. They moved in with their old friend, Wally Ramone, who rekindled her passion for Phil, which forced Lil to move out, as there would be no space for her once the baby was born, though she retained a strong friendship with them, she struggled for accommodation. To do so, she offered her services to Chuckie and Megan, the recently wedded couple who ran the orphanage. Phil and Wally had a son named Howard shortly after that. Chuckie and Megan had a daughter by the name of Melinda, in honour of Chuckie's late birth mother. Lil acted as midwife to Megan, who grew very depressed as the next few months went on, feeling guilty over her survival, when so many mothers during the Revolution and before had died when she midwifed for them. "It's okay, you and your baby are just meant to be together," Lil would always tell her. Megan never really grew close to Chuckie after the birth of their child, spending time largely with either Melinda or Lil. Chuckie continued his own thing, his job in the Capitol, working for the new Coalition. Lil had volunteered for the army, but been rejected for her membership of the Voiceless Others, though Dil, who was now a full time civil servant, fought for his friends to maintain it. Chuckie only got his job because he had been their leader, and saved many lives on several occasions. Lil had little to live for, except the children. Then, she found Megan had slit her wrists in the bath.

Megan survived thanks to Lil's intervention, for another week. Chuckie was informed and he returned to the house, taking work off for a few days or so. Lil could hear them arguing from her room. "Do you want our little girl to lose a mother like I did? Do you?" "I did this because I hurt, Chuckie. I love her, but there's me to think of… me. I'm still a person…a Time Lady." "No, I can't forgive you for this, unless you promise not to try anything again. We'll get you help, I'll find someone." "Ever think I might want to die, eh? Ever think of that?" "Don't you ever say that again, or so help me God... I don't think that way because I think of you as happy, because I love you!" "Then why don't you ever spend time with me?" "Because I love all these children as well…we have a duty and unlike you I do not shirk from it. I work and I tend to the others. If you could be more like Lil and accept your lot, you'd realise we've only been parents for three months." "Oh, Lil. It always comes back to her, doesn't it?" Chuckie slammed the door then and left the room.

The morning after that Lil went to find Megan in the bed looking drowsy, Lil having just fed Melinda and putting her back to bed, whilst the orphans were either at school or being tended to by Smile and the other child minders. Megan looked Lil dead in the eyes, she appeared to be drooling as her head turned on her pillow. "You love him, don't you?" "Who, Chuckie? He's one of my oldest friends, so yes, I like to think that I do." "You love him more than that, I know you do. You embraced his violent side, you embraced Koschei when no one else would…" "Yes…maybe I did, but I don't. I am Lil DeVille, not the Rani." "He's the only one who can calm you, apart from your brother, I've seen and know it." "You're mad. Chuckie is your husband…" "He may love me, but he can never connect to me, he's seen far too much. You on the other hand are one his oldest and dearest friends. You relate to him well enough. You always inspired him so much. He told me… the big, brave dog." Megan was very clearly groggy now and Lil rushed to her side. Then she saw her prescribed medication from the local chemist. The box of pills was empty, lying beside Megan. "Oh you idiot." "Shush, Lil, shush. Tell him…you found me already gone. I've seen worse than him…I've seen it in the fires." Megan had been practicing some form of scrying behind their backs, despite the fact it was outlawed by Rassilon millennia ago, due to its connection to the Pythias. "The end…you and he shall love one another…and then lose one another. Apart from one another, the violent selves shall manifest themselves once more. And when Gallifrey is long gone and…ashes, then they will both die and you shall live again." Megan then rolled her eyes, opened her mouth wide for one final breath as her head fell back. Lil began to cry, the first time since her father had died that she had cried. The funeral was a small affair, her family in the countryside held it and only Chuckie, Lil, Smile and a handful of orphans were able to attend from the Capitol. Upon returning from the funeral, Lil saw Chuckie was in a clear rage. "It's my fault…I drove her to desperation. Well, maybe she's right. Maybe we were never meant to be after all." "She came to the Capitol to do you an honour, Chuck. She loved you then, but she wanted peace of mind. You remember her…scrying…" Chuckie nodded and then embraced Lil "Oh, what shall I do without her, Lil? More importantly, how can I be good to her now that she's gone?" "She wanted us…to be together…didn't she…""Yes… she thought you and I were better than me and her. But she wasn't herself…" "Then let's do it. Let's honour her wishes." Chuckie hesitated before saying "I've just been widowed, Lil." Lil grabbed him and kissed him and said "To a woman who wanted this. My mama always told me the dead were sacred. I fought for my parents…in their memory. She wants us together, as weird as it may seem. Let's keep our word." "Okay," Chuckie said before kissing her back.

**The Mothership, the Sol System, 2025**

The Rani made her ascent down the stairs with Dil at her heel, he had become like a mutt to her now, a creature at her whim. She advanced slowly towards the room designated as the Overlord's place of residence. Entering the chamber, she saw a shrouded Susie Carmichael standing beside the Overlord, who was seated on her throne. She had never noticed Susie there before now always seeing her as another Singular in the background, clearly due to a low level perception filter of some kind. The Overlord gave a glance through her helmet at her servant. "Admiral DeVille, to what do I owe the pleasure?" The Rani knelt before her overlord and Dil did likewise, though in a more awkward fashion, which caused him to trip. "Overlord, if it pleases you…then I wish to partake in a rescue effort for my brother, Mayor Phillip DeVille of London. I recommend we exchange him for the Doctor, who is in official custody at Chronopolis in the hands of the Warden of the Sol System, John Smith. Though, be it at your pleasure, ma'am…" The Overlord reacted to first the statement and then to the Rani's acknowledgement of her gender. "Why on Earth would we be doing that? Your brother is a spineless worm who should have killed himself before being taken prisoner. The Doctor is valuable…he possesses the Moment…" "With all due respects, Ma'am, knowing who you are, you can quit the pretence that you have anything to fear from the Moment." The Overlord stood up and the Rani could see how much taller she had grown since she had become a Singular, having grown to about nine feet of height, mainly due to cybernetic augmentation of the legs. "Ah, I see young Dylan Prescott here told you the truth…well, it matters not that you know. Why do you wish to rescue your brother anyway, we'd need to coordinate the plans with him and he refuses to communicate with us?" "So that we can take back the city…before the threat we feared arises." "And what threat would that be?"

The Rani made a signal with her hands and a holographic projection appeared. "Our intervention on Earth was an easy task, I'll grant you and so has our occupation of the world in the name of the Empire. However, we should have levelled them much earlier than this as humans are an adaptable species, we know this much, they outlived their Neanderthal cousins and survived many a period of drought, famine and disease. So, at some point they will become powerful enough to resist us. And that seems to be evident from my spies in London…they came across an old base…wherein lies my brother…and this woman." Coco LaBouche appeared before them in her current form. "It is clear, ma'am, that she has been enhanced through cybernetic technology befitting the race known as Cybermen. This race would have the capability of destroying us…given the right amount of time and technology and the only remaining hub since Switzerland, is in London. We must destroy the city, ma'am. And I will not allow it, until my brother is freed." "But this is preposterous, what of the Doctor?" "I shall hand him over personally, ma'am. And take him back with us, in the window of opportunity we have to escape London before it is levelled. Then…we shall still have him and our rule will be secured." The Overlord remained solemn until she said "You are a tough one, DeVille. Very well then, I accept your proposition. The exchange must take place within the next few weeks though. The Day of Reckoning draws ever closer and we need these Cybermen dealt with before then." "Of course, your worship." The Rani bowed and exited the chamber with Dil. "Now what?" he asked in the corridor outside. The Rani looked him dead in the eyes, giving him cause to quake in fear. "I shall still handle your brother…we may need his help yet. But he will still be mine to destroy. And mine alone."


	28. Evolve or Assimilate!

**Beneath London, 2025**

Sleep escaped him every night. He had given up hope at this point, all he knew was that he would live, perhaps forever in ignominy, so dreaming became a useless folly for him, since every moment was like endless waking. When they had seized him nearly eighteen months ago, the rebels kept him suspended here in this cell in the epicentre of all their territories, each one of their bases having special access to him. He did enjoy the company of Clara Oswald and Malcolm Taylor, who treated him like a humanoid being however Madame LaBouche, his old childhood enemy, and her adjutant, Jean-Claude, were left wanting when it came to mercy and amiability. The Free Timers he hadn't seen in thirteen months, he presumed them either dead or without care. He gave the Free Timers more time travel secrets than anyone should know, and he hoped they had annihilated themselves in the process. Oswald never talked down to him nor cussed at him. Coco wanted to dissect him, longing for his respiratory bypass system and his binary cardiovascular system. As well as the symbiotic nuclei which made time travel safer for his species than others, and gave him the capacity to regenerate. The treaty between the rebels barred that, but he feared she would gain control sooner or later. They always took samples of his blood and he loathed that, but always condescended to do so. He broke off contact with his sister after a while because he came to realise how idiotic a concept the New Time Lord Empire was. Their vengeance crusade was at an end and had been bastardised by the Overlord, that thing his sister constantly asserted was a woman, whilst he nodded his head in agreement. He didn't care, he just wanted it dead and his people save from those beasts. He had seen his godson become one of them, his namesake. The communications ceased as a message, telling her to give up on the cause and find a way to stop it, if she can. Though vengeance on the Doctor was Priority Number One, the sanctity of their species came second to that.

On the day he had been captured, a companion of the Doctor's attacked him with some form of sonic device. He attacked her and had her down until she shot him in the leg and began to scream in agony because of it. Then, the woman, Smith she was called, Sarah Jane Smith, told him something. At the time, he noticed she had begun to cry. "I betrayed the Doctor…I've killed for that monstrosity…please, they'll ruin him…they'll ruin him. I only wanted to save my planet and now I know that's impossible. Tell them I died capturing you. Will you? And please…don't let them ruin him." The woman then shot herself in the head and a few hours later her friends came in and saw what had happened. The Monk was captured and tortured beyond belief at their hands. Months passed, and only a few months ago, he met the Doctor and the Master. Rumour had it that the Master perished on Earth fifteen years ago at Christmas, whilst the Doctor survived and regenerated. But the Monk could tell it was the same man. Many centuries ago, on Gallifrey when he became a father with his old flame, Wally Ramone, she and the recently widowed Chuckie had become partners. Children were never produced and Phil knew it wouldn't last. They had grown into two very independent adults with only passion to gain from one another. And sure enough, fifty years before her exile she became an army officer for President Pandak, which led Chuckie to end their relationship, as her personal appointment by the Purist President who had torn his family asunder made her his enemy. In later years, he wouldn't even acknowledge Lil as the woman he loved, but the Rani. His sister hated men too much to love them. He, Tommy and Chuckie were the only men she loved. He as her brother, Tommy as a best friend and former casual lover until both she and Phil realised his feelings for Kimi were too strong for him to continue that and Chuckie as a dear friend and later partner, they were practically married, but still it ended bitterly. Her predictions about loving a man were true, it didn't work out. But still, their relationship was very nice while it lasted. She always had her twin whether she liked it or not though. Except now, not in this era of idiocy.

Phil had had two children with Wally; Howard Spencer and Lana Elizabeth DeVille. Both were kind hearted and amiable children, but as they grew older they shunned their father and mother, even their Auntie Lil, for the sake of selfish pursuits of boredom, like all other Time Lords. Wally did it, how he loathed her for that. Lil, Chuckie, Tommy, Chaz Finster and Stu Pickles were the only ones of his species he knew who didn't accept their lot and wanted to know more. As nervous as Chaz was to explore, he always accepted a job, no matter how dangerous, knowing it was his duty. He had explored when Chuckie's mother was alive, after he merely kept his exploring to fatherhood and to novels by people from other worlds and times. Stu always wanted to explore and he always seemed to, but always gave up and settled down in the end, something his son could never do. In that regard, he was more like Dil than Tommy, who hated Gallifrey, but had nearly always spent a great deal of time manipulating affairs there from within the system. Chuckie had always been afraid of so many things, but his caution was what made him so capable as the Master, he always dealt with his enemies rather than having the naiveté to try and reason with them like the Doctor. Tommy was brave, there was no doubt about that, and he was more desperate to explore than the rest of them, which considering that he was the last to leave Gallifrey is ironic. This was mainly due to a wound he had sustained at the hands of Morbius and his torturers. They exacerbated it beyond belief so that after the Revolution he limped quite a bit. As a weakling, he put himself through physical therapy, putting off leaving in the Tardis until after 250 years of it and delayed even beyond that. Tommy was one of his oldest and dearest friends and he loved him. He hated the Doctor, the sanctimonious prig who thinks himself among the gods with his outrageous heroics.

**Gallifrey**

The planet was safe and Phil had the love of his life by his side. Wally Ramone had been more than kind to him and his sister, and given them a home after the Revolution. He told Wally about killing his mother, something he was unsure if Lil knew or not. She comforted him, a girl they hadn't seen since they were very young and had no experience of the Revolution. "I was just…talking to her, Wally…then I put the pillow to her face and…" She stopped him with a hug and said "You did something you or anyone else would be very afraid to do, Phil DeVille. You ended your mother's suffering." She kissed him and later they were sharing a bed every night. Lil was vexed, saying it was just like hanging out with both of them as a pre-teen, when they were last in a relationship. Her former good friend and her brother were still fawning over one another. One day, he went with Lil to the marketplace in the Capitol where they met Chuckie and one of his men, Smile. They got to talking with them and in front of Phil, Lil asked for a place to stay and for a job from Chuckie. She packed her bags and left. She spent a tender moment with Phil and said to him "You'll always be my brother, but you and Wally are good for one another and need to get away from me if you want to be happy. We good?" "Yeah, forgot to mention, sis, I'm going to be a dad." Lil embraced her brother and said "All the more reason…I hope I can meet them." "Don't worry, Lillian, I'll make sure you're one of the first people there." Phil, knowing he was going to be a father and needed to help Wally in earning money to pay for the house since he wasn't just a lodger anymore, went and applied for a job at the House of Lungbarrow as a cook. Old Man Quences accepted his proposal, to honour the honesty Phil's parents had shown him whilst working here. Phil and Wally continued to live in the Capitol, as Phil told her what growing up with children of the Great Houses can be like, citing Tommy as his only friend from his childhood there, the rest being either indifferent or antagonistic to him.

Phil was praised by everyone in the House and kept up a good relationship with Stu and Didi. Tommy never once came, his parents or Lulu always had to visit him and Phil would send them food to bring to the house. He rarely saw Tommy, who had become a recluse for the first year or so after the Revolution, moving out to the country. He and Kimi married eventually and invited everyone but that was when their son, whom Phil called both "T.J." and "Kengo" affectionately was about eight and Kimi was pregnant once more. Phil's own child was already two as was Chuckie's daughter, Melinda and Susie Carmichael's daughter, Harriet at the time of the wedding. Two weeks past her due date, Wally gave him a son, Howard Spencer DeVille, named in honour of Phil's father and Wally's late elder brother, Spencer Ramone, who died in the Sycoraxic Wars. Lil was invited to be godmother as was Dil Pickles in honour of his brother, who could not attend for reasons undisclosed. Phil suspected Tommy's hiding to be due to the pain growing worse and worse in his leg, and he wouldn't travel to the Capitol as he could barely go half a mile from his own bedroom, according to Kimi in her correspondence with the rest of them. Lil adored her nephew and despite how little time she spent with Phil and Wally these days she always seemed to have something special for him then and there. She claimed that she adored him for how unlike his father he was, having Wally's blue eyes and light brown hair. The only DeVille trait he had was his father's chin and hair shape in later years, it would grow a lot like Phil's. But he knew the truth, she could admit her love for her nephew more willingly than she would her own brother, so she decided to shower it.

Phil always felt like something was missing from his life, despite the fact he was father to a lovely young son and engaged to Wally. This was mainly because this was the first time in his life he had been apart from his sister. Lil enjoyed her independence and preferred living and working at the orphanage to living with her brother. It had been Lil who had helped him adjust to losing their parents, now he had Wally to adjust to "losing" Lil. She was his best friend he knew that much about his sister. And since they were Time Lords, Phil knew the universe was too small for them to be apart forever. He accepted his lot with Wally. Many Time Lords had to accept that one day their marriage would end before their final death. Chemistry and love don't always withstand regeneration. Many people on Gallifrey believed that upon regeneration, a marriage should end and the couples allowed to find new people. A small minority had lasted all twelve regenerations, but Phil knew none. His parents had lasted six before their death, being together several centuries before having Phil and Lil at a late age for Time Lords even. Marriage felt like a first incarnation affair on Gallifrey, simply for reproduction and companionship in the youthful years. In the later regenerations, individuality was more encouraged. Phil liked to think he and Wally would last forever, but he doubted it. He envied Tommy and Kimi for being a mixed species couple. She would live longer than most humans and age about as fast as a Time Lord's body thanks to conditions on Gallifrey, but she would never regenerate. She would grow old with Tommy, then die and leave him alone. Even though that may seem sad, it was far better than falling out of love due to regeneration. Phil's depression was slightly alleviated one night in his garden, as he continued to fear his children leaving him one day, having just discovered Wally was once again pregnant, and fearing that Wally and he were not going to withstand the centuries. The alleviation came in the form of a large mutant crawling from his flowerbeds, exhausted. "Extermopuss?" Phil rushed over to his old pet and saw it wasn't a he, but a she. And she was pregnant. Phil stayed in the garden all night and his son joined him come dawn. "Daddy, what's going on?" "Something wonderful is happening?" At what would have been half past six in the morning to humans, two baby mutants were born to Extermopuss. The sad news was the mutant died from the stress. Phil mourned his former pet but was able to give his son and later his daughter a pet to keep them company. They named their mutants Joe and Eoin, after a slimy duo known in 21st century Earth history for being adjutants to a great leader of men and did his dirty work.

His daughter Lana Elizabeth was born shortly after he and Wally married. As with most of the 'Rats' weddings, it was officiated by Dil Pickles. Lana was a name chosen by Wally, after Lil told them not to name the girl after her or their mother, who probably would have crushed Phil into a bug had he named his daughter, Betty. Instead, to honour his late mother, Wally encouraged Phil to give Lana the middle name of Elizabeth. Wally was always very supportive when it came to his mother and her fate, that Phil stopped imagining her leaving him. Their son was four when the girl was born and the age gap allowed him a mature outlook on being an older sibling and made him grow fonder of her than he would had she been a couple of years younger, so sibling rivalry was less apparent than it had been between their father and aunt. One night, watching telly after ten years of marriage he asked Wally a very personal question. "Wall, I know this is a little odd of me to ask but…will you stay with me when I…or you…regenerate?" Wally looked into his eyes and said "I never wanted to talk about this, Phil, but…I love you…but even I can't tell the future. You'll be a different man and I'll be a different woman at that point in our lives. I want to say yes, but if I said that I might not be telling the truth. Let's not waste the special time we have together by worrying about our regenerations, eh?" Phil, who was laying on her lap, kissed the wedding ring he had placed on her finger ten years beforehand and then her lips saying "I suppose there aren't any guarantees in this life of ours, or anyone's?" "There's death." "After seeing Morbius fight back against it, I don't know about that anymore."

**Beneath London, 2025**

The day came when he heard fighting above him, the day was 25th October 2025, by his reckoning. Jean-Claude and Gwen Cooper arrived to secure him to a transport wheelie device, similar to how Hannibal Lecter was transported around by the police in films, but more hi-tech. On the way he asked Cooper "So Gwendoline, my dear, I take it I am to be executed. Oh well, we've all gotta go someday I suppose. It'll be you I miss the most, my dear." "No, your bitch sister has just saved your arse, the decision was unanimous between all three resistance sects…." "The universe is doomed…no one's safe anymore. All three? So Free Time are still around. Oh no…" "Pipe down, Gallifreyan swine!" Jean-Claude barked at him and then proceeded to burn his cigarette butt into the Monk's chest. "I hope I can gut you before the Singulars, Frenchie! You do realise you're all doomed whether I suffer or not?" Jean-Claude smirked as they arrived at the main chamber where Coco LaBouche sat alone for once. "Where are Harkness and the boys, Madame?" "Cooper…leave us. You may be needed out there." Gwen saluted Coco, drew her gun and ran out to meet her fate with Harkness at her side. Coco stalked over towards him, her cybernetic parts squeaking from rust and proceeded to release the Monk. "Get him a dressing gown, Jean-Claude! He'll catch his death in here!" She moved towards her throne and stood beside it her back turned. Jean-Claude left and returned with a dressing gown and two glasses of champagne, one for the Monk and one for his mistress. "Madame Coco, to what do I owe the pleasure?" the Monk asked, placing the dressing gown around himself and then taking the wine. "You've read Darwin I take it, Monsieur DeVille?" "I haven't had the pleasure…yet I am quite familiar with and admire his theories, I must say. Natural selection. So true, how tragically true it is." "He believes that mankind must evolve to survive…" "Well, I'm sorry to say it Madame, but your people have had their evolution curbed for the sake of my own. Your planet could have been one of the most influential in the universe, it's a shame it has to die when it's only just touched the stars. Such potential wasted. Still, you're quite logical, Madame, you of all people should understand my species' predicament."

Coco took her glass from Jean-Claude and proceeded to dismiss him. "I am nearly fully converted to the Cyber-race. And whilst I do understand your predicament, I have my own race to think of. The Earth isn't going to be your New Gallifrey, I know that much, you'll find some other planet, or resurrect your own by the time that Overlord of yours has made her Eye of Harmony. But we can remain a part of your grand design…as allies." "The human race hate us for enslaving them. They will never want cooperation, my dear, only freedom." "Then why not a Cyber race? The Cybermen are the next stage in natural evolution, and if we have your help Monsieur DeVille then that can be achieved. Time Lord and Cyberman, side by side. My people and I shall replace humanity and support the new Lords of Time, our masters and our allies." The Monk began to think about this proposition. The woman wanted his help in allowing the Cybermen to inherit the Earth. The Cybermen? Enemies of most life in the universe. Though, they could stop the constant revolts and allow peace to come to this planet, also their capabilities could rival those of the Singulars, given the right upgrade. Realising this could be to his advantage in stopping the Overlord and the Doctor, he decided to side with her. "I'll see what I can do…but why wait on the Overlord's approval? Why don't we go ahead? With all your time travel, there must be a fault somewhere already present, which was exacerbated by the Paradox. In particular…Canary Wharf, perhaps?" Coco LaBouche smiled. "Where the Cybermen first emerged on this planet since the 1960s. Oh, you are a genius, Monsieur. The fault could be extrapolated, and the Cybermen can return…Harkness' records told me they were sealed inside the fault with another alien race. They said it led to the Void between worlds…But I also read that all life died there during the Stolen Earth Crisis." "Yes…but the Paradox could allow us to reach out and seize them either way, which means we'll need a time device of some kind. The Free Time Movement could provide, perhaps?" The Monk and Coco looked at one another and she said "Then I will have an army of Cybermen and allied aliens to use alongside them. Oh, the power we shall have…thank you, Monsieur DeVille." She moved to embrace him but the Monk grabbed her hand upon seeing it was lasered cybernetic one. "Assimilate me, will you?" He threw her to the ground. "Either I'm left organic or no deal, LaBouche! Where's my sister?" "Waiting…at dawn tomorrow, we hand you over to them in exchange for the Doctor. But we can ambush the party with the aid of the Cybermen and annihilate them. Your sister and the Doctor will be spared. All we need to do is have it be held at Canary Wharf, there will be delegates from every resistance sect to hand you over, since you are the prisoner of all three, officially." The Monk laughed as did Coco for a few more minutes. Their plan was foolproof in their minds. How wrong they were.


	29. The Cat's in Chronopolis

**Chronopolis, 2025**

Secreting herself here was not the wisest or easiest move she had done in her lifetime, but she knew she had to secure the Doctor before anymore troubles began. Neither the Rani nor the Overlord should have the chance to use him in their games, so she needed to find him before they did. The Rani was still finalising her plan and so Susie Carmichael took it upon herself to journey down to Earth and find the Doctor a new place to hide. Also, she needed to destroy the Moment, if that were possible, and she knew the Doctor would oblige, she had fought with the man in combat against hordes of Daleks, so she knew he was trustworthy, if a bit temperamental and self-righteous. She brought a Singular with her, hoping to use it to convince the Doctor of what he was up against. Susie knew all too well who and what the Overlord was, but if the Doctor uncovered the truth he might just let his honour and his regrets get the better of him. It would be better to show him who had been used by her. Entering his office, she found Smith fawning over the portrait of his late wife, the blonde woman whom he obsessed over. From what she had heard of her relationship with the Doctor, Susie thought that her only real attribute was his affection and possible attraction to her, except in her earlier years. After she absorbed the Time Vortex, her humanity seemed to die slowly with it. She became a soldier like Susie, and people like that she could never love, no matter what they had been once before. When you hate yourself it's impossible to love those who share common interests with you. Susie coughed to get Smith's attention, for a clone of the Doctor she thought his increased humanity bore all of its weaknesses as opposed to its strength. Whilst he was more capable of romance than his biological template, or "Father" as he had taken to calling him, he was also adept at great displays of envy and acts of cruelty. "My darling Susie, to what do I owe the pleasure," he walked towards her and attempted to give her a kiss on the cheek, but she withdrew before he could do such a thing. "Oh, Susie, you're no fun. You Time Lords and your celibacy, I'm glad "Father" flaunted that as he did."

"As we grow older, love, sex…such things become unimportant. We maintain friendships and other platonic relationships, but we fall out of love, shall we say. Only fools like the Doctor and his father who married humans, as kind and loving as they were, did not go through that period of evolution." "Father always considered you like a big sister to him, didn't he? Whenever he speaks of having a sister, he speaks of you and you alone, no biological sister could match Susie Carmichael, the girl who taught him so much as a young boy, which was far more than that cousin of his ever could." Smith sat at a couch and clicked his fingers as if to summon a servant. One of his mindless humans, or "Robomen" as he called them, approached with two bottles of Duff Beer. "My favourite beer…brewed in Springfield." He took his bottle and Susie took hers. "I take it your shadow there would be far from impartial to a beverage?" He indicated the Singular standing beside her. "No…he's as good as dead in there. So…I think alcohol is the least of his worries." Smith laughed before he began unleashing a whooping cough. "How much longer till I can claim his regenerations, darling Susan?" "Susan is my granddaughter's name…I am Susie. And the Overlord will decide, you know she promised you his place in time and space, alongside that idol of yours." Susie gesticulated at the portrait of his wife, Rose Tyler. "You mean my late wife…murdering the planet of my mother and my wife is a small price to pay for immortality with Rose in a new timeline." Susie smirked as her Singular grunted in recognition. "Oh, I see Fido has a brain." "No, he just has familiarity with me and you, is all. In another life, he and my daughter were lovers. He died years ago…I didn't know it was because of such a conversion. Like myself, he doesn't belong here, but yet he is here." "And what familiarity pray tell does he have with me?" "You are a clone of the Doctor, remember? Gallifrey's most celebrated son after Rassilon and Omega." "Is this an inspection, Miss Carmichael? You bring a Singular with you and hold a mysterious conversation with me, without announcement. What for?" "I beg an audience with your father." "Why?" "Overlord's business, Smith. Learn your place." Susie walked over and smacked Smith in the face with great ferocity. "Very well…though I will keep guards outside." "No need, I have my shadow here." The Singular grunted once more. Smith nursed his cheek and leered up at Susie. "Very well, alone, if you must. Though I will be having words with the Overlord about this." "No you won't. Or I'll tell her about how you have failed to secure the Moment in the time given." Smith gritted his teeth, stood up and said sarcastically, whilst bowing to Susie "A thousand pardons, Your Majesty." He then ushered them out of the room, muttering under his breath all the while.

Susie and her Singular came to the Doctor's chambers. Inside was a large double bed with paintings of every incarnation on the wall. Susie could hear the shower running in an en-suite, so clearly the Doctor was coping with the insane luxury of his room well. Susie knew him well enough to know he rarely thought of or brought up the past, unless he had to, so she knew a love in for his past selves was wrong. She saw the older version of the once handsome and happy boy she had known as Tommy Pickles first. His hair was white and he wore dark Edwardian clothing, his once happy face was now grumpy and depressed, but yet a glimmer of kindness could be seen. Susie knew he had been through a lot before he reached that age. The second incarnation was a stranger to her, a black haired man dressed like a hobo with a recorder. His haircut was a pale imitation of the Beatles, giving her cause to laugh. The third was a man with stylish grey hair, tall and quite dapper in his cape, she thought out of all the Doctors this one exuded the most self-confidence. The fourth was a happy looking man with curly brown hair and teeth the size of fingers. Susie thought his scarf a little unorthodox. She did notice something familiar about these incarnations, not because they were the Doctor, but because they had the same face as somebody she once knew, only with different styles and demeanours. The fifth one was a young, blonde man with a cricket bat and a stick of celery. The sixth was a grumpy looking man wearing an absolutely ridiculous coat, who seemed to have a very commanding presence. The seventh was a short man with a hat and umbrella, whom Susie could tell had a sinister edge to him that wasn't visible on the surface, it was only his eyes that displayed them. The eighth was probably the most comely, with brown hair and a look befitting Dorian Gray about him. The next painting had a man she knew all too well. Her former squadron commander, Captain Tommy Pickles, also known as the Renegade after the dissolution of the Suicide Squad. This man had led her to what many believed to be her death, centuries ago. The next image depicted a man with a large nose and ears, who looked sullen. Susie thought it fitting that he should considering the alleged crimes of his past incarnation. Then a handsome man with spiky brown hair and a constant look of regret about him was on the next painting. Then a man with a forehead the length of the arm of a man with average height. Oh Doctor, she thought, and you were doing so well in the looks department. Finally, a man with grey hair who seemed to be making a gesture to silence her with his finger and his lips was on the final image. Susie knew these images depicted the Doctor and realised she had missed out so much on the life of the man who had called her "sister" for so long.

Then she saw the Doctor emerge from the shower, putting his clothes on, his old clothes from when he was in his twenties and thirties. The red jacket was her favourite part. He looked up and saw Susie in her attire of warrior clothing and a hood, she reminded him of Liz Ten, but not quite. She looked kind of like Zoe from Firefly in her current incarnation. "Could it be? After all these years? Susie Carmichael?" "Yes, Doctor. It's me." The Doctor ran towards her and proceeded to embrace his old friend. "How are you here? How are you all here? Phil, Lil, Dil…next thing you know it'll be Kimi or Angelica. Hell, even the McNultys or someone. And you died, Susie. The Emperor Dalek claimed you for the Cruciform." "Time Scoop…" "And it was the Overlord who took you. You must have been the one who spoke to Smith in his mind." "You're very intuitive, Tommy. What gives?" "I've been wracking my brains on how to stop you all, but I can't. All the same, when I get some evidence I like to make a pattern, as a detective would." The Doctor released her and went over to a drinks cabinet. He poured Susie and himself some Coca Cola. "No alcohol." "No fuck that shit, I do too much these days to afford to imbibe, my dear." He looked at the Singular and said "He won't be having any?" "No…he's as good as dead, T." "I see…shame really, I was starting to pity them, you know." Susie took her drink and they proceeded to drink. "So, why are you here?" "To get you out of here." "Why? I've been sitting pretty here at the end of the world in absolute luxury with no wants for the past few months. Why would I want to leave?" Susie started laughing as did the Doctor. "You almost had me there, Pickles. You…a hedonist. Honestly. Ha ha." "Okay, I'll admit that I might have been a little economical with the truth there, but still there's no hope Suse. We're doomed. May as well accept it…the Overlord's won." "Not if you can stop her, with the help of a certain EMP device." "EMP? What is it with you spies and your love for EMPs?" "You'll know when the time comes. As long as your or Chuckie have it, there's still a chance." The Doctor stood agog. "The Overlord is a she?" "Yes." "She's not…" Susie nodded her head and the Doctor said "Well, that changes everything. Now I know I have to stop her then, don't I? What can I do, though? If it's whoever I think it is, then I won't be able to. I can't just do that to them." Susie then beckoned the Singular toward her and proceeded to remove his mask.

The Doctor grabbed the unmasked Singular as he collapsed to the floor. "He'll be dead in five minutes, but trust me Tommy, it's the right thing for him." The Doctor was holding his son, Philly in his arms right now. "Dad…" "Hey boy. Long time, no see, eh?" Philly's face was mottled with scars and bleeds all over. His lips has turned green and his eyes were almost completely discoloured, making them look white, or red like an albino's, depending on the amount of light shining on his face. His hair was still there but it had gone white, where it had once been purple and later brown. He still had his teeth intact, those perfect teeth that had made him such a ladies man in his day. His birthmark he inherited from Kimi's side was still on his neck, a symbol which looked like a tattoo of the symbol for Pi. He coughed up green slime from his mouth momentarily. "Dad, where are we?" "A place that shouldn't exist, son." "How long's it been, now, Dad?" "I'm nearly 3000, boy. And you were so young…so young. You had a daughter, you know, with Harriet." "Aw, shit. I didn't mean…" "Son, she was a gift to me and your mother when you were gone from us. We thought you had died on Morrigan." "I did in a way, I mean they made me into this thing. If it wasn't for Susie, I probably would still be a mindless drone. She took me to be her personal Singular, and with that she started working on breaking the programme. We realised I'd die because of it, but I told her to let that happen, it didn't matter anymore." The Doctor started crying and held his dying son closer to him. "I wept for you so long ago, why do I still do it now?" "Because I'm here. Was my daughter…was she happy?" "She had a great life…and still does, I hope…I haven't seen her in so long." Philly stood up as his father and Susie positioned him upright. "It's okay, son." "Dad, listen to me. Phil and Lil…they found me, they tried to save me. They failed…but listen, they can change. Give them a chance. Believe in them. They're driven by hatred for you…for the Doctor. You need to show them you're still their oldest friend. Save them, Dad. For me…" Philly collapsed onto the bed and began vomiting all over it. The Doctor grabbed him by the hair and held his head back to stop him from choking. Blood came out his mouth along with green slime and some organs. By the time it was over, the Doctor held up the still face of Philly. "Are you okay? Son?" It was clear that that bout of vomiting had killed him, due to stomach acid destroying his wind pipe and suffocation caused by constant release of fluids, as well as the loss of some organs in the process. The Doctor held him and the laid him on the floor. Susie held his hand as he began to weep. "I will, son. I promise you, I'll save them. Susie, where do we go from here?" "To London, we've got to warn them of the trap." "They've got the Master with them and more besides not a one of them is worth saving." "Well then where do you suggest?" The Doctor looked her dead in the eyes and said "Take me to see my own father, if you would please Susie. I know he's out there and he may be our only hope right now."

**Gallifrey**

Susie Carmichael discovered she was pregnant about two weeks after the death of Morbius. She knew who the father was, some idiot boy who she had in a bar when she was depressed at the state of the city during the riots, but never told another soul, apart from Kimi, who never told a soul either. Her parents accepted the news warmly, feeling another grandchild would be great for the family, though Susie accepted that she would probably have to move out. And do that she did. She moved into Angelica's old gaff, from before the War. Charlotte had been shipped off back to House Dvora by her brother, Morbius a few years back and the flat was free for those who had a key, which Susie did. She paid rent to Charlotte when she got a job in the Chancellery Guard, arranged by Dil Pickles. She gave birth to a daughter Harriet nine months later and swore she would never have another child after finding enough love with Harriet. Mother and daughter were exceptionally close to say the least and Susie never really got into another relationship and maintained her single mother relationship. She named the girl Harriet, because she was a girl and she wanted to honour her late friend, Harold. She arranged a memorial for him alongside Tommy Pickles ten years after the Revolution, which was honoured by all their friends, even Tommy. Her mother made regular clandestine trips to visit Tommy. When Susie would talk about it with Lucy, Lucy would merely excuse herself and refuse to talk about Tommy's suffering. Every time Susie saw Tommy she saw how noticeably he had aged. His hair was white within the next two centuries which was very odd for a Time Lord. Her daughter Harriet became good friends with Megan Finster and Spence DeVille, and also was a friend in her teen years with Philly and Lilly Pickles, the twins. Harriet went to college with the exceptionally intelligent twins who went to college aged fifteen. Susie wasn't surprised when one Christmas they all spent at Tommy and Kimi's home to find her daughter kissing Philly Pickles. Philly had had several girlfriends and was quite a maverick and a ladies man, so Susie was always afraid that he would break her daughter's heart. Despite this, she was very fond of the boy and always enjoyed his company. He looked more like his mother than his father and had a talent for altering his appearance, unlike his brother Kengo, who was almost a carbon copy of Tommy, until he rebelled against his parents in his young adult years.

Susie eventually followed in her mother's footsteps after job satisfaction in the Chancellery Guard lost its edge. She went to medical school and earned a doctorate. As Doctor Susie Carmichael, she acted as her mother's understudy. When Lucy retired, Susie volunteered to become Tommy Pickles' personal physician. She wished she hadn't. Every fortnight, she needed to give him large amounts of morphine and suffer his screaming for an hour, to prevent the pain in his leg from spreading to the rest of his body. Physical therapy made each visit less strenuous, though if he ever became sick with another infection, the leg worsened. Once Tommy was past 200, his leg was significantly less stiff and he could walk around more easily. Feeling, she'd finally done a miracle, Susie gave up on being a doctor and went on to fulfil her old dream of becoming a singer. Tommy always showed his gratitude, until he left Gallifrey, he liked to think he could live up to Susie's kindness and make people better like she had for him. She suggested he try and become a doctor. He never did. Well, not in the traditional sense anyway. As a singer, Susie became quite popular and wrote and performed a song for one of Tommy's movies, he remained a part time director even though most of his films were cultural hits. The movie was called "Time Scaphe" and was about the journey of the Time Scaphe, a ship that nearly perished and was the first prototype for time travel in Gallifreyan history. Susie's hit single was known as "My Hearts Will Regenerate," and topped the charts fifty years in a row every Otherstide.

Of course, Susie never stopped visiting Tommy after he healed up and dismissed her. Before he left Gallifrey to become a bounty hunter for the last time, Philly Pickles spent a night of passion with her daughter, Harriet. Nine months later, shortly after they heard of Philly's death on the planet, Morrigan, a baby girl was born to Harriet. She resembled her grandmother, Kimi, but had the dark hair of her mother's family, as opposed to the purple hair of her father's. Plus, she was white, which was not considered odd for a Gallifreyan child with dark skinned parents. Susie's father, Randy, had light skinned parents, Evelyn and Daniel Carmichael. They named her Susan in honour of her grandmother, at Tommy and Kimi's behest more so than Harriet or Susie's. Susie couldn't help feeling Harriet didn't want this child and told her to move on and leave the girl with her. Realising this whole arrangement was selfish of her when Susan was about two, Susie sent her to live with her other grandparents, who were still reeling from the loss of their son. Susie always visited Tommy because her eldest grandchild lived with him. It was a shame that she had to leave Gallifrey with him. Shortly after Susan and Tommy left Gallifrey Susie lost her father Randy to old age. Lucy lived another three regenerations but gave up before a fourth one. Susie and her other children joined her at her deathbed. "Why you gotta go, Mama?" "I'm going to be with your father…when life is too content and you've been here too long, then it's time to go, Susie." That night Lucy died in her sleep. Lucy Foreman, daughter of the legendary I.M. Foreman and wife of the honest Randy Carmichael, celebrated doctor, beloved mother, grandmother and great-grandmother. They buried their parents on Mount Perdition in the rose garden, where Philly and many others they had lost by then were buried. Statues were erected in all of their memories, rather than marking the graves. Apart from Dil Pickles and her brothers and sisters, Susie had no friends left on Gallifrey, the others having left to become renegades by then. She still visits Dil, or Braxiatel as he was known to the public by then from time to time. Harriet had remarried and distanced herself from her mother, so Susie considered Dil her only friend. She stayed on Gallifrey, drowning her sorrows with Dil on a Friday once every fortnight, doing nothing else. Then, the Time War came. And Susie's life was turned completely upside down, as everyone slowly but surely came back into it.


	30. Am I a Big Brave Dog?

**London, 2025**

It still bewildered him how Stu Pickles, a lauded Gallifreyan inventor and explorer, could have sold a heap of junk like this to a human corporation with a net worth greater than that of Karn. When he was very young, he had driven this behemoth through the streets of Paris, to save his father from marrying that human whore who now controlled the Alliance, LaBouche. Instead, a much kinder, more maternal woman married his father that day, a woman he would be proud to call his mother for many years to come, Kira Watanabe. He had also gained a sister, who treated him like he had been with her since birth, going by the amount of love and respect she showered upon him. He recalled one night, after his resurrection, when he spoke with Kimi at the café. She told him she loved him and that he would always be her big brother. He told her how he had defied Death with the aid of his gang, swearing her to secrecy and in kind she told him of how she was glad he was dead that night, instead of Tommy. Any other man would have spurned her, but he had embraced her as a brother should and said he was glad too. He knew his sister's love for all living things ran deep, but that he and Tommy had special places in her heart. She never liked Tommy for his good looks, his charm or the fact that in their early teens he never stopped flirting with her. She liked him because he was just as curious about her life from Earth as she was of his from Gallifrey. She loved Chuckie because he needed caring and love, and her mother provided him that, the same as her. Chuckie loved her for her acceptance of him, despite their differences. Chuckie loved Tommy because he was his kindest friend and the one who showed him the universe from the confines of the playpen. Their wedding was a beautiful day, he had been with Lil that day, his then lover. Then he remembered Tommy with his granddaughter, Chuckie's adored grand-niece, Susan, a sad man wanting his wife and the universe. He wondered would he ever tell Tommy the truth. No, he thought, it'll break his heart.

"Oy, Chuckie, quit daydreaming! We got a machine to build!" The Master snapped back to himself upon hearing Wilfred Mott's angry voice. He was abseiling from the very giant Reptar construct he had just been musing about, which led to that spiel of reminiscence earlier. Equipped with a blowtorch, he was nearly finished after as good as three weeks' work on this monstrosity. The machine had been salvaged by the Children of Time a month or two ago and the Master anticipated they may need it to deal with their enemies in the upcoming battle. Surprise upgrades for combat were being built so that Reptar could become a force for mass destruction in case the battle came. The day was 25th October, the eve of battle, believe it or not. The Master and Wilf sat down for coffee and lunch. The Master was wearing the clothing of builders but tossed it aside to wear his dark coat and scarf once more. "Tuna sandwich?" Wilf offered the Master. "Where'd you get that?" "Old Mayor Boris' larder. You'd be surprised what delicacies were in his panic room, my boy." The Master sat down across from Wilfred and took a bite, saying "We never ate much native meat on Gallifrey." "No." "No, we only had synthetic food products. Our ancestors did eat them though, but we quickly realised we'd be driving important members of our ecosystem to extinction. We practically became vegans to save Gallifrey from global famine. In hindsight, it probably would have been the better way out. Though our civilisation would have been the equivalent of what your society would have been come the 1001st century, that's really why we ate synthetic products."

Wilf was staring at the Master with his mouth open. Even though he should have been a man in his late nineties he didn't look a day over forty, but the mannerisms and bluntness of a man his true age were still there. "I once told the Doctor we were like insects to you lot…" "Oh, don't be ashamed Wilfred, I've always thought lesser species more important. Take the spider, for example, the spider is a natural predator which allows a balance to exist for all species in its habitat. The spider kills the fly, the fly doesn't live to give me diarrhoea." "I hated you once…you nearly killed my granddaughter." "Ah yes, Donna, how is she?" "Died during the Paradox…too much for her mind, you see. Meta-crisis times ten, explosion saved her kids' lives." "She had children." "New born twins…IVF. I never met them…and probably never will. My only great-grandchildren. To think, I was a father, a grandfather and a great-grandfather, and I'm talking past tense. Babies wouldn't and couldn't make it out there. No way, no how." The Master thought of his orphanage. "Oh, I don't know, Wilfred. I midwifed children during a revolution on the streets of Gallifrey and saw them all grow into adulthood in my home for them. Their parents…were rarely as lucky. Only in peace time, did I really see a natural birth go well on Gallifrey. The first time I did, I wept for days. Especially since it was my own daughter." "You, a dad?" "Yes, and a granddad. Though not really on that count…" "Is she gone?" "Yeah, long before Gallifrey. The poor girl had visions…horrible visions. Like her mother, she was cursed. She killed herself when she became a mother. I gave up the baby to a rich, sterile couple. So, you see now, Wilf? I have had the privilege of being a father and a grandfather, but never a true dad or granddad." Wilf then said "You're a better man than the Doctor, you know that?" "Don't say that, Wilf. You know it's not true." "The Doctor is wonderful, but he'd never be this humble. He'd never have the patience to stick around with us this long, or give so much. He wouldn't make young orphans like Valerie happy every night. Wa-hey!" He started giving the Master a friendly pat on the shoulder. The Master merely looked at him directly and smirked. "Wilf, in the seventies he stuck with UNIT as their scientific advisor for five years. He loyally served the Earth against alien threats, and rarely travelled freely. He saved the universe from that monster, Rassilon. He stopped me doing so many things I would have come to regret. The Doctor…Tommy…is my best friend, my brother-in…my friend…I love him. But…so many centuries, Wilf, so many have passed. And I don't know is he the same man. In many ways he is one of the people dearest in my heart…in others he's an imperfect, lonely old man. But still I've loved him ever since I knew him. He did so much for me, and I for him." The Master bowed his head and Wilf patted him saying "Flipping heck, mate. Even you love him. He is a fucking god after all then."

Then Wilf and the Master suddenly stood to attention at the sight of their commander, Clara Oswald arriving in the garage. "At ease." She walked up to Reptar and looked the artificial beast up and down. "Is it done then boys?" "More or less, ma'am. I'd give it a test drive tomorrow if I were you though," Wilfred managed to stumble through his nerves, "Oh Wilf, are you sure?" The Master interjected saying "Miss Oswald, you haven't inspected us since you put us to work here…" "I know I haven't. That's because it was never urgent, was it?" The Master and Wilf looked at one another with suspicion. "Urgent, ma'am?" Wilf piped in. "Yes, Private Mott, indeed it is. You see, the Doctor is returning to London." The Master was wide eyed and slightly miffed at that, to say the least. "Well, he's taken his time, I thought he was long dead. I've still got that EMP for him. And I still don't have a clue what to do with it. Well, where will he be then, so I can punch the old fool in the face?" "The old Torchwood Tower. He's being held prisoner by the enemy and the message says all resistance cells are to attend. So we'll need delegates, I shall go with Wilfred seeing as we can't have anyone knowing you're here, Chuckie." "Why am I going?" "Because you were personally requested for by John Smith, CEO of the Rossum Corporation." Wilf was perplexed, as was the Master. "So I don't care how much is done, as long as Reptar is weaponised, I have a feeling tomorrow might be our darkest day and we're going to need that thing. We're handing over the Monk, in exchange for the Doctor and as soon as he's out of London, his sister could very well make an attack…or something else could happen. Like LaBouche…spies say she's working on something big down at St Paul's…don't know what though. So, we're gonna need Reptar." Clara saluted the Master and Wilf before they could question her and marched off. "We're handing over our most valuable prisoner, just like that? She must be off her rocker, that Oswald one." Wilf poured himself some coffee from a flask and for the Master. "How in hell did they capture him?" "Search me, Chuck. But they are resourceful…we barely escaped Switzerland back to Blighty all those years ago. The whole country…the mountains just split like ice caps, whole villages and towns blinked out of existence at first sight. If it weren't for roads and time travel devices we'd be dead. Those monsters, I tell you." The Master lowered his eyes at the thought of his people committing such crimes.

Wilf put his hand on the Master's shoulder. "Hey, I don't mean nothing like that. They are monsters. My race have produced monsters too and plenty of them. What about Adolf Hitler? Or Charles Manson? Or Mrs Thatcher?" The two men laughed heartily at the last statement. "I met her you know, when she was a young girl in Grantham. I ended up telling her how to crush her enemies and everything, in great detail I might add. When I was here in the eighties, I thought she must have recorded the conversation, because it was a lot like what I would have done in her position." Wilf then checked his watch. "I wonder what this Smith bloke wants me for then." "Do you know any John Smiths, aside from the Doctor?" "His name is John Smith." "A common alias of his…I know right. At least I picked something like Harold Saxon…though I must admit I was just teasing him before with names like Magister and Thascalos. Though Keller was a good one." "Heh. No, I don't know any John Smiths that are alive anyway. Though, now that you come to mention it, I saw his face in an ad for them time machines once. He was an old man, but yet I saw a very familiar face there. And his manner was also familiar, but in a different way. I could have sworn he looked like the Doctor, talked like the Doctor, but he acted like my granddaughter, Donna." "Oh, yes. I remember her, she knocked ten of me out once. On Christmas Day. Oh Doctor, there was another product of that meta-crisis, wasn't there?" "He said something about that…meta-crisis. What is that?" "A meta-crisis is when a creature, either already living or unborn, gains the traits of two species, without natural conception. Most children Time Lords have with humans are Time Lords, with some exceptions, usually only with ones not born on Gallifrey. Your granddaughter had one, but it must have created a creature which was both the Doctor and her. It was Donna inwardly, while outwardly it was the Doctor. I think that creature, Wilfred, is to all intents and purposes, your great-grandson. They said he was a hero…who better than the Doctor. Oh they have been playing a beautiful game here. Haven't they, Wilfred?" "You mean that my blood…a member of my family…is one of the masterminds of this shit." "Hey join the club, Wilfred. It's my species who make up the vanguard of this invasion so don't be getting all sentimental on me here." Wilf threw his cup of tea to the ground and walked off. "See you later, Chuck. I need some time alone."

The Master sat alone with his cup of tea musing on the events of the past few months. He had made new friends in the resistance, he knew that much. He had found himself gratified physically by Valerie and found a good friend in Wilfred, a man he had once taken prisoner and taunted. He had turned Wilf's daughter and grandson-in-law into copies of himself and nearly killed Wilf's granddaughter, but still Wilf forgave him and accepted his friendship. Rubbing his hands in his face, he wondered whether he was truly the Master or Chuckie anymore. Then, he remembered there was one thing the Doctor didn't truly know about him. One final toothpick in his insanity. It wasn't Death's Champion and it wasn't the Sound of Drums. It was an act of grief, he committed centuries ago. Many years after the Revolution, at the loss of the one person he cared for above all others, the one person he could never replace, as he had replaced Megan with Lil, Lil with Lucy and Lucy with Valerie, he did this. Chuckie Finster was dead, but not anymore. He was coming back, but the Master was always stronger. Even when Chuckie tried to do good deeds, the Master always resurfaced and did the wrong thing. Driving his wife to suicide when she had the baby blues was one of these things. Scheming and battling against the Doctor when he was a friend who had done no wrong to him in the past, that hadn't been forgiven, was another. Chuckie had always been afraid, and so had the Master, but he usually had method to his cowardice. Allying himself with alien races to fulfil his goal of defeating the Doctor was one, hiding aboard the Valiant from disgruntled human slaves or possible assassination was another. The Master was afraid of the Doctor, but that was a fear he tended to face. The Doctor had always pitied him, but never shirked from meting out the ultimate, nearly killing the Master on a few occasions, and at one point succeeding when he flung his old enemy into the Eye of Harmony itself. The Doctor once told him they should have travelled together, and he considered it. He missed the closest thing he had to a brother. He missed Tommy. But Tommy was still apparent in the Doctor, no matter how many years that adventurous tyke was still in the Doctor. Out of all of them, he had changed the least. The Master had no more traits of a "big, brave dog" anymore. And what of the others? What of Braxiatel, the studious, conniving, businessman like political animal who was once the eccentric, imaginative and funny Dil Pickles? What of the Meddling Monk, the avaricious, manipulating, humorous faux gentleman who had once been the gross, kind and individualistic Phil DeVille? What of the Rani, the experimenting, cunning, dominating warrior queen of far off worlds who was once the sweet, playful, kind and assertive Lil DeVille? Tommy may have become a stuffy old contrarian explorer like the Doctor, but he never once betrayed his principles as badly as any of them. The only ones who stayed the same were Angelica, Kimi and Susie, though Susie less so during the Time War. Angelica who had propagated the heirs of Morbius in Mutter's Spiral, and faced her family being annihilated after constant war, was still the natural successor to her bratty younger self. Kimi who had been adventurous, playful and insecure about her differences, was only different when she was a mother and a wife, because she gave up many a pursuit to help her ailing husband and raise her children. Chuckie loved her for that, her abandonment of all things selfish. Mainly, he thought she had changed because of her telepathic abilities. The Doctor did become more like Tommy as he grew older, similar to Chuckie's recent return. Perhaps, with age comes a restoration of the principles. Though, even Chuckie thought that was being far too optimistic.

Gathering himself, he made his way outside where he found the young children waiting to speak with him. Ciara and her older brother, Denny, ran up to him with glee. They were wearing only rags as they came up to the Master. Ciara had foreign origins and was curious and intellectual, whilst her brother Denny was a shy redhead. "Uncle Chuckie! What story will it be tonight?" The Master turned to the orphans. "I'm not in the mood tonight, Ciara!" "Oh please, Uncle Chuckie. Please. Tell us a story about you, please." "What?" "Well, you've told us so much about the Doctor, we want to know about you, about what Charles Crandall Finster III did as an adult." The Master noticed the voice of the last speaker was Denny. Denny was being nudged by his best friend, Mikey, who had just sidled beside him. Mikey was a little bit younger, but he was far less shy than Denny. A selfless boy, he always wanted to make his friend more confident, but always embraced fun and adventure for himself and his friends, no matter what the difficulty. Beside Mikey, was his brother Will, an infant who enjoyed chewing on things which children shouldn't chew on. Then the twin siblings, Boris and Doris, walked along with mud covering their faces. All the children had been working and were clearly tired, their rags filthy. An older black girl by the name of Linda came up and wiped their faces. "Tell 'em a story, Chuck. It's the end of the world…no point in hiding yourself any longer, Mr Saxon." The Master beckoned the children to follow him as they squealed in glee. More children followed them as they entered a little hut with a blazing fire in a barrel. The Master sat on an oil drum beside it and warmed his hands. The children all sat alongside him and the fiery barrel. Linda stood to the side lines and gave him a thumbs up as he prepared to begin his tale.

**Gallifrey**

He had held the little girl in his arms so many times before, it felt indescribable to be holding her once more, for the first time since her mother had died. Smile and Lil had promised to take care of her whilst Chuckie took time off work to grieve. That arrangement was made before Lil kissed him in the guest room at Tommy and Kimi's home in Arcadia the night after the funeral. The next morning, Kimi told Chuckie she hoped he would find love soon and he told her he wasn't looking far. The girl looked like Chuckie, except she had dark hair like Megan. Melinda had Chuckie's freckles, but seemed to have a gorgeous little smile befitting Chuckie's late mother, her namesake. She would later take to wearing glasses and would look even more like her father then, but apart from that she was the right combination in image, a beautiful girl. Combined with his love for Lil and his wonderful, blossoming daughter, Chuckie Finster was a very happy man, despite being a widower. Like his father had with him, he was determined to soldier on for this little girl no matter what. Unlike his father, he found love once more after a shorter period of time. Melinda was big for her age, at seven pounds six ounces in weight, at only a month old. Like Chuckie, her hair was growing out in a messy fashion, but it was dark like her mother's all the same. It was Lil who had encouraged him to go out and pick her up. "Charles Crandall Finster, I love you, but I don't need you. That little girl needs you, just like you did Chaz all those years ago. I'll be with you every step of the way, but you need to be there for her more than I and she needs to know that." Women were ever so persuasive these days because men tend to agree with them and do what they say without a second's thought. His daughter reached her finger out and grabbed her father's index finger. The feeling of such a soft presence made Chuckie's heart beat faster. He was in love, she was perfection. His daughter. He knew that with his help, she would grow into a fine woman. Lifting his daughter up, he kissed her on the forehead and lowered her once more into her cot.

The orphans loved Chuckie now. Children came first and work came second, thanks to Lil's gentle words as opposed to Megan's harsh ones. The orphans were amazing, each and every one of them. Particularly, a child prodigy whom Chuckie took a shine to. Gothaparduskerialldrapolatkh, or Goth for short, was his name. The boy was cunning as well as shy and tentative. He cared about his friends there, but Chuckie noticed he wasn't afraid to betray them. Chuckie tried to teach him that ambition comes second to friendship, but it was second nature to the boy and trying to alter that was futile. Goth once asked Chuckie, "Mr Finster, do you have any friends?" "Why, yes I have many. The men who work here are devoted friends and fellow believers. Lil and her brother I've known since I was a few years younger than you are, as well as Tommy and Kimi, my sister and her husband, who is my best friend from childhood. Also, Dil, his brother…he got me my job." "And are you were you wanted to be when you were my age, Mr Finster?" "Well, I never really wanted much, I wasn't as ambitious as the rest of my friends…" "You haven't answered my question." "No, but I am happy though…" "Thank you, that's all I needed to know." As much as he wanted to help the boy, Chuckie was still proud of him. The boy went on to join the Celestial Intervention Agency, but a studious Time Lord. Goth's younger brother, Rath, cared little for any more than interference and mischief. Like Goth, in later life he would be a politician, though less successful than his elder brother. Goth as an adult would be Chancellor and was even considered as next in line for the Presidency. Until he found out the President loathed him for his ridiculous ambition. So, finding his old foster father dying on Tersurus many years later, would lead to an unholy alliance that nearly wrecked Gallifrey, though that's a tale for another day.

Every night, he found himself watching broadcasts in his sitting room and would go to bed with Lil every night. As much as he appreciated their friendship, he couldn't fight his feelings for her anymore. He loved her and she loved him. But like Tommy and Kimi, it was a great friendship which became very intimate, as opposed to romance in those ridiculous novels. Phil and Wally had always been passionate idiots, or childhood sweethearts as people who lacked Chuckie's cynicism were wont to say. Chuckie never imbibed alcohol, as he thought it a weakness, though Lil was fond of a few glasses here and there. When Melinda was two, Chuckie and Lil visited Arcadia. Living there were Kira, Kengo, Tommy and a now pregnant Kimi. They were getting married soon they had decided and Chuckie was chosen as the best man. Chuckie accepted, mainly because he loved Tommy and was glad that he made his sister happy. Lil asked him later that evening. "Do you want to marry me, Chuckie?" Chuckie was lying in bed, reading a novel with his glasses, when he replied "No…but I do enjoy sharing a bed and co-habiting with you? And besides you'd never tie yourself to me, or any one man, no matter how much you love me. You never could." "True…but I do love you." "Of course and I you. But it's never going to happen, is it? And we're never going to have kids, are we?" "No."

After Tommy and Kimi's wedding, Chuckie and Tommy sat across from one another in the bar after the meal, before the dances. They were both wearing white tuxedos, Chuckie had shaved his beard and tidied his hair and Tommy had grown his hair longer at the back, almost like a mullet, but a bit more distinguished. Chuckie said "Tommy, thank you...for shooting me, all those years ago." "Whoa, Chuckie. That was like a decade ago. I did it because I saw red…and you were doing wrong. I regret it…but there's one thing I don't get. You survived that…unless you're not Chuckie at all, which I highly doubt, considering you're very much the way you were before I shot you." "Yes, I am the Chuckie you knew. But I'm also Koschei. And I don't know what else…" "I like Chuckie, just the way he is. How is Melinda? She seems awfully quiet for a girl her age. Oh Chuckie, have I upset you?" Chuckie was a little distressed looking at this point. "Sorry, T. She…has no language, but it's almost like she's an empath of some kind, the doctors say. She has no fear…unlike her old man, but that's mainly because she knows the true feelings of everything she sees, hears or senses in any other way. I can't comprehend it." "Chuck…you don't think it might have to do with you being…dead before." "I don't know, T. I don't know." Chuckie began crying into his hands as Tommy embraced him. Kimi walked in and walked out silently upon looking into her husband's eyes and reading his mind. "Chuckie…what are you?" "I don't know." "Well, I promise if you or I ever find out, I'll help you." Ironically enough when the Doctor was in his seventh incarnation, he would fulfil that role for his friend. He found out the truth about the Master's connection to Death and in doing so, he struck a deal with the goddess. If she gave his friend a decade of peace, without his memories, on a world of people without hostility and had never seen his face before, then once that decade had ended the Doctor would kill his best friend. The planet she sent him to was Perfugium and the man he became was local doctor, John Smith. The Doctor refused to kill him at the time, so Death, who had ironically posed as Doctor Smith's servant going by the name of Jade, made him kill an innocent instead. She also revealed the truth about Torvic's death to the duo. That story, however is not mine to tell.

Many years passed, and he became a renegade of the highest order and battled the Doctor and UNIT. Then the Master landed on the planet Tersurus, lost and alone, without a working Tardis. Dying, on his final incarnation. Rotting to pieces, there was no hope for him on this wasteland. He attempted to find the Time Lord colony established here centuries ago, but then a familiar face came across him. "Well, aren't you a sight for sore eyes, Mr Finster?" The man who found him and brought him back to Gallifrey was none other than Goth, his old protégé. He gave him rags to keep himself warm during his dying days and showed him something he'd never thought he'd see again. His daughter, all alone, and frightened. Melinda recognised her father despite how mottled he was, and told him the truth. As a teenager, she had been the apple of his eye and the love of Goth, because she never spoke, but somehow understood both of them. She didn't speak a word until she was thirty. And just under a century ago, she had a daughter with one of Chuckie's orphans he found during the Revolution, whom he had orphaned personally. Vaeron Chronotis, a great-grandson of Morbius had impregnated his daughter and died shortly afterwards. The child she had she gave to a sterile couple of the House of Heartshaven, a daughter. They named her Romanadvoratrelundar. The Master never revealed the truth to the girl, and she never truly knew, that he was her grandfather. Goth acted as mentor to the girl for a time, seeing himself as her rightful father, so much so that the Master pronounced him so. The girl would go on to be President, but she would grow up hating the Master, a man she never knew was her grandfather. Melinda lay dying when her father came to Gallifrey in his final incarnation and so she asked of him to take her inside him. Melinda's empathic skills would extend his life until he could find a way to secure it. And secure it he did, but at the price of becoming more insane than before. His daughter died with her mind inside him, and that was another catalyst for his malice, that the Doctor never truly knew of. He had the mind of a dead empath, screaming for mercy, and he was the reason the poor girl came into the world.

**London, 2025**

The Master held his head in his hands as Ciara asked him "Did she love you?" "Who, my dear?" "Your daughter." "Yes, very much, and I her." "So you were the bad man who worked with Goth then," Denny piped in, Mikey still nudging him a little. "Yes…I was." Mikey walked up to him and said "Are you still a bad man now, Uncle Chuckie?" "No…I hope not anyway." "You dumb babies don't get it, do you? He's evil…my granddaddy told me so, because he used to work in UNIT when this man was doing bad things." Then walked up Mikey's mean spirited older cousin, Alisha. "You dumb babies think he's a hero, well my granddaddy says he's a monster, not fit for cibilisating or something." "Leave him alone, Alisha, he's our friend." It was at this point that the Master noticed how familiar these children seemed. He then strode up towards the bully and said "Little girl, do you think I'm a monster?" "Yeah, sure I do." "And do monsters eat little girls?" "Yeah, I guess so." "Well, I've got a craving for vain little bitches like you, Angelica!" "Who?" The Master grabbed her by the scruff of the neck and slapped her across the face. "You…ruined me…I would never be the Master if it weren't for a bitch like you, Angelica Pickles! I loathe every little bit of you, you whore!" Alisha struggled and ran away as Linda held the Master back. "Chuckie, what on Earth has gotten into you?" "I don't know, Linda. I think…I need to sleep for a moment." He turned back and saw the children were hiding from him, all except Mikey and Ciara who just shook their heads in shame. "Goodbye, children. I love you…" He walked off crying like a little baby back to Valerie's apartments.

He lay on the bed and awoke his girlfriend with the noise of his boisterous and unceremonious entrance. Finding a bottle of whiskey beside the bed, he began to drink it. "What time do you call this?" "Time for you to get some sleep…" "Do you wanna fuck? You know it's good for you, you told me so yourself." "Fine." And so they had sex, but it was brief and less passionate than normal. "What's gotten into you tonight, Master?" "Nothing, Val. I just need some sleep, that's all." He fell asleep and dreamt of being on Gallifrey with Lil, and the night she left. That night would never have happened if it weren't for all the horrors his family had undergone. Then he remembered the last time he saw Tommy before he left Gallifrey, on Tommy's 200th birthday. A day they didn't lightly forget. And then he dreamt of Reptar moving across the streets of Paris, on the day he went to save his father from Coco LaBouche. He swore he would kill her tomorrow. The last act of the Master would be to do what Chuckie couldn't have done. Kill the woman who nearly destroyed his family.


	31. The Gallifreyan Patient

**University of California, Berkeley, San Francisco, 2025**

The moonlight shone upon the remains of the city as they landed. The ruins were scattered across the horizon as the Doctor struggled to straighten his neck. Ash and dust blew at his face and smirched his clothing. Time Vortex manipulation is not advised by Time Lords he knew that much, but what choice did he have. The escape from Chronopolis involved him faking that Susie was his hostage and he had stolen power packs from Philly's Singular armour to recharge the Time Vortex Manipulator, which had lost all its power trying to travel through space in a solar storm. Susie was unconscious, having never used such a form of time travel. Rummaging in his pockets, the Doctor withdrew some smelling salts and placed them under her nose. "It's okay Suse. We've arrived, hopefully they couldn't trace us." Susie had managed to temporarily jam any frequencies that could locate them long enough for the Doctor to meet with his father. "Looks like you were right, the contrary old professor never left this place. For a guy who explored so much in his youth, he never liked getting out of that old comfort zone of his as he got older." Susie stood up, her hair askew. She was wearing a travelling cloak of red and her black hair was falling onto her face. "Still think they're a great species, T? Can't even invent decent fucking time travel." "Hey, we beat every other race to it and don't insult my half species…and one that I married into, when I'm around. But I agree with you the Time Vortex Manipulator is the worst mode of time travel ever conceived. It's worse than a Time Ring for god's sake." "God's sake? I forgot you used to say that, you always did during the war. Whatever happened to Rassilon in your mind that made you a Christian?" The Doctor looked at her puzzled. "I'm not a Christian. How can I be a Christian? Well, I suppose it is one of the few religions that I haven't met the god of yet and proven he was just a really powerful alien. So I suppose I am one then, and a Jew for that matter and a Quantologist…Really puts things in perspective."

The university had been torn apart during the invasion, but Susie had told the Doctor his father's body was never found after the onslaught and neither was his Tardis. The Doctor theorised that he must have come back somehow, stating there was no way after 19th July 2020 a Tardis like his fathers could be flown here. He always said he was the last of the Time Lords, but that was because he knew that even though his father was still alive on Earth in the 21st century, his death in 2050 was a fixed point in time, so he was never recruited for and was never aware of the Time War. His father must be on his final regeneration at this point, the one that could have a tendency to rot with age, as so many Time Lords had discovered before. The rot could be either mental or physical. The Doctor hadn't on his final regeneration simply because of his half human biology and the fact that he had prepared himself for death, rather than trying to resist it. Professor Daniel Joyce had lost his student, the Doctor's old babysitter when he was five or six, Larna, when she secretly left to fight in the Time War. Daniel Joyce, that was his father's pseudonym here, just as he had been Ulysses during his travels. He still called the Doctor his son, despite the centuries they spent apart, they loved one another like father and son should. When the Doctor regenerated after the Time War, he spent a fortnight with his father and lied, claiming his angst stemmed from post regenerative trauma of some form. Professor Joyce had given his son a mixture of medicines and they had even gone to the cinema. He always came back to his father during his early travels, but his dishonesty with him meant that he could never really open up to him about the Time War, or the deaths of his brother and his descendants during it. Leaving his father came when he got a tip that the Nestenes were in London in 2005, and he headed there to defeat them. Opening up to his new companion, a human, Rose Tyler, had been far easier than opening up to his father, who should never know of his people's future and had emotional investment in many of the people lost there. The Doctor had always kept his father up to speed on events on Gallifrey, even the worst atrocities, so Joyce knew it must have been destroyed despite his son's silence on the matter.

Atop the ruins of the university was a giant skull which through the ashen winds and dust storms looked quite ominous. The Doctor and Susie withdrew their weapons and slowly walked into the ruins. Inside, it was like a large alleyway of destroyed corridors with families camped in the rubble, warming themselves by the fire. They seemed to have enough supplies to live on, so the Doctor assumed his father must have been providing for them. He saw an old woman playing with one of his old sonic prototypes and then moved to ask her "Excuse me, miss. By any chance did an eccentric looking fellow with a beard in a white lab coat give that to you?" She nodded and then gesticulated towards a door at the end of the corridor, upon which lay a hazard sign, a sticker which his father had always used for privacy. Beyond the door, was a standard lecture theatre housing some lab equipment on every desk. At the end at the lecturer's desk was several books and an interstitial matter transmitter, all stacked on top of one another. A man with glasses in a lab coat with white hair on both his head and his face stalked out from behind the desk. The glasses were held together with Sellotape whilst his lab coat was covered in gravy stains. He had a notepad floating in mid-air beside him whilst he constantly drank from a cup of coffee, which he seemed to spill every two drinks of. The strange man was dictating to the notepad "And so, the matter cannon must disperse everything in the Void, and using the anchor reach through the crack and…" "Hey, Dad." Professor Daniel Joyce, or the scientist formerly known as Stu Pickles, turned to see his son, the Doctor, or the hero formerly known as Tommy Pickles, walking down the steps of the lecture hall with his old friend, Susie Carmichael alongside him.

"Thirteenth?" his father said gesticulating at him with a pencil which he pulled from his lab coat. "Fifteenth, if I'm going to be precise." "How…" "Time Lords. Needed me to save them. I told you everything the last time we saw each other. Remember? About seven years ago." "Yes, you must remember son that it is still hard for one to get used to linear time, even after how long I've been undergoing it." The Doctor walked up to his father and they embraced one another warmly. "Hello, my boy. I have missed you. Where have you been? I thought…the invasion." "My Tardis went kaput, Dad. Can't work in this new order of Time." "Really…that's odd. Mine still works, I can probably give you something from my one which might help yours. Susie, my dear, where are my manners?" Susie outstretched her arms as Joyce ran over to her and gave her a hug. "Nice to see you, Stu." "Yes…Stu. So long since anyone called me that. Not even Didi did in the end…it was always Penelope and Daniel in the end with us." "Dad, did Anne make it?" "No, she died just before the onslaught. Cancer. Humans…what do we see in them, my boy, eh? They're so fragile…but yet we can't get enough of them. Though I'd hate to be a fucking celibate like your little bro, all the same?" The Doctor smirked at that. "Well, I am one too, Dad." "Really? If Kimi were still here, you wouldn't be saying that. Whereas if a girl like Susie or Lil had been your wife then you should be a celibate…You do miss her, don't you?" "Every day. Though I can barely remember what she even looked like, let alone my life with her. Until recently, I didn't even remember who my other two children were." Joyce merely hummed some electronic sound to himself and said "There's a coffee pot in the back room, if you and Susie want some, son."

The Doctor went to a coffee pot on the nearby kitchen table, upon which the pot became suddenly alert and familiar with him. "Could I offer you some coffee, Tommy?" it asked in a monotone. "Yeah, two cups. And decaff for me, it's late," he replied without much surprise. His father's inventions were ongoing and even more whacky than some of the stuff he'd seen in his own travels. Stu's eccentricities had been gratified on Earth and exacerbated because of that. Two cups were prepared for him as he grunted "Thanks," and brought the two cups for himself and Susie forward. Joyce was busy sitting at his desk reading a lost text of Charles Darwin's. "So, son. What is it I can help you with?" "You can start by helping us defeat the Overlord…" "Now, son. Why haven't you done what I've been doing with this whole episode and simply ignore it?" "Ignore it?" "Yes, ignore it." Joyce walked up, his hands in his pockets. "Dad, in case you haven't noticed I've been saving this world for quite a while now, I can't just give it up on the drop of a hat…" "Oh yes, you can." "Just because she's Mom..." Joyce's notepad dropped at that suggestion.

"Don't be foolish, boy. Your mother is dead." "Tommy, your mom was human…" Susie interjected suddenly, her coffee mug having dropped to the floor in shock. "Yes, but she could very well have been altered by something, anything into some form of Time Lord." "Son, that's preposterous…" "How can anything be preposterous anymore?" "Tommy, it's not your mom. I don't even know who this woman is," Susie interrupted once more. "I thought you said you did," the Doctor replied in shock. "Well, I think I do. I can't be certain. There's only one person who can and that's your brother, Dil. He's the only one who saw her face while he wasn't under some influence. He said he was in a kind of disturbed mental state from the torture. The rest of us have been affected by something like low-level perception filters I think…so we can't know for sure." Joyce was quite vexed at that. "You mean they've tortured my youngest and are on a manhunt for my eldest?" "Yes, but if you want to know who she really is…only Dil can tell you. It could very well be your mom, though I doubt it…or it could be anyone…I don't know anymore." "All I know is it's not Lil DeVille, at least not the one we know," Tommy replied. "Well, all I can tell you, son, is that I can't stop her, and you know it. And considering that, why did you really come here?" The Doctor stood silent for a minute or two and shuffled his feet whilst staring at them. Then he looked up at his father and said "Philly died today…I guess I had to let him go." "Your son is dead years now, you told me yourself…and judging by the Time War there are none of our family left. Just us and Dil apparently." "He died a Singular, Dad." Joyce stood agog before his son and Susie and then placing his hand on his chin, mused "Then no wonder you want to stop them, you're passionate about your kid." "Dad, I want to stop them because they're evil and fighting evil is what I do!"

"Then, you really are a fool, my boy. Evil has won, while you wasted your time, going after your idiotic ventures again." Joyce supported himself on the desk nearby as he began to lose his balance. "Your children are all dead…they died with Gallifrey. But I still have both my sons, and if I can I'm going to keep them. We'll negotiate with this Overlord to have Dil released, and then Susie can find us places in this new society of theirs, when this is all over. You and your brother will both come to live with me…and we can be a family again." The Doctor seethed with anger as Joyce turned away. "Stuart Louis Pickles, you spineless little coward." The Doctor made a swift kick towards his father's ankle causing him to trip up. "Tommy! Oh, Mr Pickles, I do apologise for your son's….most unexpected behaviour," Susie said helping him up, scowling at the Doctor all the while. "You little shit! I'm your father! Have a bit of respect." "What for? My father is an old, cowardly disgrace who deserves this kind of treatment. He thinks he has everything, when not a one of us has a goddamn thing. Take a look at me. All my children are dead, my brother is the modern equivalent of Gollum, and the survivors of our species are out for my blood. I can't escape this…I need to save the day. I said I'd be ending my career a while ago. Now, I know I have to stop this. It's essential. So, Dad, that's why you nor I deserve respect. If we just sit here, we're insects. If we fight back, then we can change the world, the universe…can't you see that?" Joyce merely shuffled away to his papers at that suggestion. "Do you want that part or not?" "If you would please." Going into a nearby cupboard and exiting with a piece of copper wire, Joyce had a constant scowl on his face as he brought the essential part to his son. Then, before he handed it over he lifted it upward. "If you fail, please, find someone to…to bring Dil back to me. I'm not losing both of you…I knew you'd bring your death upon us with your idiotic daydreams." "Tell me, Dad, didn't Uncle Quences think the same of you and Grandpa once?" Joyce hesitated before giving his son the part and saying "Goodbye, for one last time it seems." "Goodbye, Dad. I love you." The Doctor moved forward and embraced his father, who reciprocated coldly whilst waving Susie goodbye. Then they left and Professor Daniel Joyce was alone again. The cold seemed closer as he lay there, his vision fading in and out constantly. Sleep seemed blissful. Sleep seemed excellent. Sleep felt right. Sleep was coming to him…

**Gallifrey**

"Okay, that's a wrap, people!" the director bellowed through his megaphone at the cast and crew of his latest erstwhile project. Seated in his director's chair, he wore a red cap and sunglasses and was wearing a blue stripy Frenchman get-up and navy jeans. His assistant, a young blonde lady from the Northern Provinces named Delilah, swabbed his forehead. Directing had become harder in his adult years, than it had ever been for him as a child, due to his disability. Dismissing her, Tommy Pickles, pale as a sheet, took his bottle of water and stalked into his private room. Before him, was a mirror with light bulbs around it, a wardrobe and a chair, waiting to be sat upon. Removing his jeans upon sitting down, he inspected his leg which was beginning to rot into little pieces beneath his bandages. That was the least troublesome part, merely a sign that he was sweating profusely. It was the agony he felt in his knee, a non-bandaged part of his leg that was the difficulty. Moving to a communicator on his wrist, he dialled in the number of his physician, Susie Carmichael. "Susie, it's me. It's starting to act up again." "Well, Tommy, this is kind of a bad time. Can you describe the pain to me as quickly as possible?" she replied. "Yes, it's muscular, but it feels like a knife is going through those puppies, it's in the knee area this time." "It's spread then. Hmm. Tommy just take your painkillers and call me this evening, then we can talk some more. Are you still on location tonight?" "No, we finish in a couple of hours, then, I guess it's back to the studios in Arcadia for me." "I'll try and get to you at the weekend then, in the meantime keep taking those painkillers." "What about you, Suse? How's the surgery going?" "Losing out, I'm afraid T. Bills, bills, bills." "If you want you can take some proceeds from my movie…I wouldn't be able to direct the thing if it weren't for you." "That's nice of you, Tommy. But I'm afraid I can't…" "Please, when it's done, I'll help out the best I can. I owe you far more than you charge, my dear." "Goodbye, Tommy, you hopeless romantic, you." "See ya, Suse. And thanks, I'll see you later." Reaching into a drawer, Tommy removed a jar of green pills, and took three with his bottle of water. After five minutes of numbness, he was able to stand upright once more and focus clearly on what was going on around him.

"Mr Pickles, please can we get my death scene done so we can go home? My bouquet is not going to last forever," the prima donna starlet of his latest film project, _"Caligula,"_ a remake of an Earth film he had seen many years ago and thought little of the execution as opposed to the basis of the plot, cajoled him with as he exited his rooms. Her name was Godivadvoratrelundar, or Godiva for short, a woman a few years younger than him who was married to Tristandvoratrelundar, or Tristan for short, an executive who worked with Tommy's brother, Dil. A good looking woman and a talented actress, Godiva had a temper and an ego to match, and liked to consider her marriage to Tristan a marriage of a princess and a pauper, despite the fact he had far less humble beginnings than she had, growing up a child of the House of Heartshaven. Tommy and Kimi liked to consider themselves friends by extension of the couple through Dil, but Tommy had little energy or patience for Godiva, despite the fact he liked using her in his films for her talent to capture certain characters. She was playing the Roman Emperor's beloved sister, Drusilla, and the last scene they had yet to film was her death by her brother's side. Tommy also took pity on her because she had once, whilst drunk, asked if she could adopt one of his children. She and Tristan had tried to conceive for years, but their biodata was not considered viable for conception. Adoption services wouldn't allow them, and they claimed they never wanted any of the orphans from Chuckie's place, mainly due to Godiva's airs and graces. Tristan would be happy enough to have a child of any class, creed or colour. Rubbing his face in his hands, Tommy turned to his starlet and said, mainly due to the influence of the painkillers. "Well, if it weren't for you wanting to do it outside we wouldn't fucking be here. Now get out there and finish it up!" Offended, Godiva silently made her way to the set.

The scene came out very well, portraying Drusilla slitting her wrists rather than succumb to the many diseases she had gained from orgies in the Palace. Caligula was played beautifully, by the upcoming star, Tommy Pickles Jr, or Kengo as his family still called him. He preferred Tommy Pickles Jr, as a star name it sounded best. Kengo was a lot like his father, with blue eyes and purple hair, but had more of an attitude of deference to him. He was now nineteen years old and on holidays from the University, giving his father time to direct his scenes in the film. Leaving the set, a large hover craft took them back to Arcadia, the town the Pickles family had come to know as home. "So, Dad, how did I do today?" "Good…excellent this time, son. You're improving, and I thought you had great chemistry with Godiva, as hard as that may be." Father and son laughed together, as pleased as punch with one another, their relationship couldn't have been any better if they tried. "Will your belle from the Capitol be visiting anytime soon, Kengo?" "She's okay for the moment, Dad, might see her next week. What I'm wondering is when are we having another Pickles/Finster/DeVille/Carmichael get-together, it's been five years since the last time we were all together." "I'm sure your Grandpa Stu and Grandma Didi will be coming soon, boy. As for the others, well we'll see. Arcadia's a good stretch from the Capitol, even by hover car. Still, I'll be seeing Susie for another check-up this weekend, and I'll ask her about the rest of them." Kengo smiled at that and kicked back laying his feet on the dashboard. His father chuckled to himself as they came to land outside the family home in Arcadia.

The hover car landed, outside the home place. Their home was large, three storeys, and quite spacious. The success of Tommy's films and Kimi and Kira's novels had led to the purchase being made. The house itself was dark blue with plenty of windows on the second storey and the third storey being one room above the attic, painted yellow atop the house. Walking up to the door, Tommy knocked four times, and it was answered by his wife, Kimi, with a smile on her face as she embraced her husband and son. "You're never doing that to me again, taking my baby away from me for a whole week and leaving me here with the twins. They're hitting puberty and you leave me alone with them!" "Your mother's here isn't she, or has she run off with some young buck from down the road, one of Lilly's boyfriends." Kira came down to greet her son-in-law and grandson. "I'm right here, Tommy, you old dog. And give that boy to me." "Konnichiwa, O bachan," Kengo said to his grandmother who embraced him. Still looking young for her age thanks to Gallifreyan technology, Kira reciprocated the hug. "And you're not getting away from me either, Tommy! Oh, it was harder with you gone, the house was less noisy than normal, even with the twins," Kira replied, laughing with gusto at her son-in-law as she held him warmly and he returned the favour. Kissing his wife on the lips, Tommy and Kengo went inside. Tommy went upstairs first for a shower as his wife and mother-in-law and changed into his traditional clothes of a red jacket, green t-shirt and dark trousers with a belt. His hair was growing longer at the back, but he noticed his fringe was going white. Finding his leg brace, Tommy strapped himself up and let out a wince of pain at the tightening of it. Gritting his teeth, he noticed that Kimi had walked inside to see him. She was wearing her dark blue blouse and dark skirt, her hair was down low and her golden earring glimmered in the light of the corridor outside their bedroom. "It didn't get any better out there, did it?" "No, but Susie's coming at the weekend, hopefully she'll know what to do." She kissed him on the forehead and said "We need to get the old crew back, let them see you before these boys come out stronger." She indicated his white hairs. "I'm not quite that old yet, darling." He kissed her neck and she pushed him away. "Promise me you'll tell Susie about the dreams you've been having…" Tommy moved to interject, but Kimi briskly put her finger on his lips. "…every time I mention it, you just put it off." "Well love, she's not a psychiatrist." "Yes, but she could do something for you at least. Time Lord medical practice is a lot more advanced, if you were on Earth that leg would be coming off. Count your blessings, and plus Susie's your doctor, she can refer you on to someone who can help you. Think straight about this for once, eh?" She kissed him on the forehead and helping him up, said sarcastically, "Come on then, big boy. Your boisterous pre-pubescent children are waiting downstairs to welcome their father home." "Ha, I can't wait," he replied, giving his beloved another peck on the cheek and following her downstairs.

Heading downstairs, Tommy was greeted with some form of mucus like liquid to his face as his thirteen year old twin children, Philly and Lilly leapt from the shadows to greet their father. "Missed you, Dad." They grabbed their father's legs, having only just returned from the Academy for their own holidays, getting off later than their older brother of six years. Shoving them off, Tommy embraced his son and daughter. "So, how are my two rascals doing at the Academy? Giving that old fart, Borusa what for? He taught us you know…me and your mom." "Daddy, when will we see Uncle Chuckie and Aunt Lil and Uncle Phil and Aunt Wally?" Lilly piped in. "Soon, dearie. I'll make sure we see them over the holidays, now tell me how did the tests go?" "She got all As, Dad," Philly interrupted. "Ah just like your mom, while your brother was probably too busy skipping school." He gave Philly a noogie as Lilly laughed heartily. "No, Dad. He passed everything." "Come on, dinner," Kimi shouted as the family shuffled into the kitchen. A human speciality, pizza had been prepared in honour of the family being together. That night, Kengo went out and Philly and Lilly went to some of their friend's houses. Tommy and Kimi watched telly for a few hours with Kira, and made conversation while watching "Who wants to be a Chronon-aire?" "D: Charlemagne!" Tommy shouted at the screen upon hearing the latest question from the host, their old friend from the Academy, Jelpax. "Jelpax, your questions are easy but your contestants are fucking nightmares!" The contestant in question got that one wrong and lost the game with 500,000 credits already in the bag. Kimi lay on her husband's lap, doing her nails. "I knew you were going to say that, Tommy." "Well obviously, you know what everyone of us are going to say when you put your mind to it, if you went on this you'd win easily." "Why would I want to play? I've already got a successful career of my own, my mother and I are highly regarded in the arts and my husband makes amazing money in cinema, an art which since the Great Coalition was formed has grown in popularity by leaps and bounds. And besides, who needs money when you've got a happy family life?" Kira smiled. "If Chaz were here, he'd say the same." "We'll find him…don't worry. He can't have got far. Those Time Rings always bring you somewhere safe, I know it." Tommy began twirling his wife's hair in his finger. "My parents are visiting next week, by the way." "Oh great, will Dil be with them?" "Probably…if he's not working." "It's been nearly two decades since he got the job, but I still can't imagine your brother as a clerk," Kimi laughed. "More like an astronaut or a doomsday prophet, I know," he chuckled in reply.

Kimi picked up the remote and flicked over to the next channel, upon which "Stalking with the Sontarans," was playing. "Oh, not this crap again!" Tommy said, face-palming himself. On the telly, were two teenage Sontarans, one wearing an apron and curlers, who was scrubbing pots and pans whilst the other which was more rotund and had more facial hair than their spouse, was sitting at a kitchen table reading the newspaper. "Vordak, did you eliminate the Rutan menace this morning?" "Yes Dulsek, I cleared out the waste disposal unit, eliminated the Rutan menace and brought the children to piloting a death machine training this morning. Oh yes, and I neutered the cat." Then suddenly a Sontaran wearing a low cut dress walked in. Vordak looked the new Sontaran up and down with disgust. "Destructica, what kind of outfit do you call that? No daughter unit of mine is going out dressed like that." "But father, all the females in the 227th Airborne Clone Batch are wearing them to the big dance tonight." Dulsek burst in on the scene. "And if all of the 227th Airborne Clone Batch defected to the Rutans and betrayed the glorious Sontaran race, would you do it too?" "No, mother unit. But father unit please, all my assigned clone warriors are going." "Will that assigned mate of yours, Agonal, be there?" "…Maybe." Then a Sontaran wearing shades and a hat burst in on a hoverboard. "What is up, parental units and sister unit? I am heading out to Ruta 207 to eliminate some birthing units with my assigned clone warriors this evening!" "Okay, but be back in fifty million decons, Verstipax." "Oh, mother unit." Tommy grabbed the remote fiercely and said "They call this shit comedy!"

The next channel had the nine o'clock news on. The newsreader, Kee P. Smiling, a man who had regenerated away all the frown lines on his forehead, appeared with a beam of light, in the form of a smile on his face. "Well, at least we'll get something interesting from this. Problem is, they still have that failed actor hosting it. Rassilon, the holo-television really has gone downhill in the last few centuries." "Hello, people of Gallifrey, this is Kee P. Smiling with the evening news. The government have announced a new housing programme to build the town of Arcadia into a city. A government advisor and well known Academy teacher, Borusa, states: _"Many of Gallifrey's citizens remain dispossessed fifteen years since the Revolution and many a tribunal has deemed the former colonies inhospitable for them at the moment. We feel that the town of Arcadia can help these poor Time Lords and their families to find some solace, and we ask all the citizens of Arcadia to work to accept these poor people, who we in the Grand Coalition are appealing to now. Housing projects shall begin in the town sometime next year."_ In other news, test scores in the Academy have dropped on average by 25%, third year student Howard Spencer DeVille had this to say." A handsome young brown haired boy with blue eyes appeared on the television. "Well, it's just a drop in effort, many students feel we're not being incentivised to work what with all the easy employment schemes in the mines, education doesn't have that much of a vested interest as it did in my parents' day. It's not a sign of bad education, just poor motivation." Tommy laughed. "I'm calling Phil DeVille in the morning to tell him we saw his son bullshit on behalf of the government just like his old man." After a half an hour of exposition and other codswallop, the news ended and Gallifreyan Central Television turned to Quantum Newsnight with new host, Dylan Pickles. "What? My brother a TV presenter…well, Kimi I guess we were right about him."

The first focus of the programme which lasted an hour and a half was the Sontaran/Rutan War and a latest book by historian, Hedin on the subject. Dil had grown a small beard, dark in colour, despite the red hair on his head. Dil's presence on the telly was very noticeable, as he commanded the small screen very well. The next segment, however was one Tommy had a great problem with. Dil began it by announcing "Now our Grand Coalition has been with us for fifteen years now, presiding over our great race with responsibility and judiciary actions. Now, we on Quantum Newsnight have been belligerent supporters of the government, but now we must admit we see failure in our sights. Minister for Horticulture and leader of the United Front for a Pure Gallifrey, Pandakestaneverdeloengbarrow is with us in studio today to talk about the recent unconfirmed scandal of the President, Drall the Unready's alleged abuse of his own granddaughter." "Bollocks, I know for a fact from my own son that that girl would do anything for money. She's just tired of not getting enough attention for being part of the Presidential family," Tommy shouted at the screen. Kimi silenced him with her mind, saying in his head "Tommy, listen to what they have to say. We'll talk about this later." Pandak began reciting his own agenda. "Oh as much was we agree with President Drall's policies, this kind of crime, whether he is guilty of it or not, there is no smoke without fire and we in the Purists are moving for a vote of no confidence in him." "Mm hmm, and would you agree that President Drall has been holding the Coalition back," Dil asked the politician. "Yes indeed. Once, before his Presidency, we in the Coalition had something under Saran, Morbius' old Vice President, though now…We feel that that potential has run dry, thanks to this ineffectual Presidency, and in the wake of this vote of no confidence we in the Purists will be running on a separate ticket to all the other parties in the Coalition." Tommy turned the channel in anger. "Dil, you had to bring that idiot on and add fuel to his fire. Rich, just fucking rich. I always told him he'd end up regretting going into politics." Kira then walked over to him and said "Well, I doubt with the Coalition's popularity even this scandal can put a vilified little man like Pandak in power. It'll be alright, Tommy." Kira kissed her son-in-law and daughter on the forehead and headed to her bedroom on the third storey. Shortly after that Philly and Lilly communicated to say they'd be staying over with their friends down the road. Kimi was too tired to argue with them and after another hour or so of television she and Tommy headed upstairs.

Tommy went to their bedroom first and removed his brace. He left his green shirt and boxers on to inspect his eviscerated knee. "Susie should be here tomorrow or the next day, honey," Kimi said, walking into the room from their en-suite wearing her dressing gown. Her hair was down and she sat next to her husband clutching his hand and helping the poor fool into bed. "Rassilon…this is fucking torture." "It's okay dear," she placed a painkiller in his mouth and put a glass of water to his lips. They were always left handily atop his side drawer. "Thanks, dear." Kimi said "I'll be another half an hour, okay? Just adding a few pages to the novel." "Okay thanks, Kim," Tommy looked towards his wife as he managed to adjust himself despite the pain. "Kimi, before you go, I have to ask you…" She turned round. "What is it, T?" "Do you love me, in spite of the burden I've brought and continue to bring upon our house," he choked. "Yes…always, now and forever. We need each other, you and I. So many of our friends went crazy, and we nearly did too, if it weren't for each other. Lil and Phil…it's their love lives now that keep them sane, and Chuckie for that matter, it's fatherhood that keeps him going. Whereas…us…we love each other, and we have our children to love. My mother thinks we were meant for each other, rotting limbs and all." Tommy chuckled at his wife's turn of phrase and picked up the book by his bedside locker, after adjusting a pair of reading glasses. As she left, Tommy couldn't help but notice that despite being mother to three children and a hard working novelist, scriptwriter and part time artist as well as matriarch of the house, Kimi was still a good looking woman at thirty six. She looked so much younger than he did with his ever encroaching white hairs on his fringe and his gammy war wound.

Lifting up his communicator, he dialled in the home number of his parents and his brother in the Capitol. His father, Stu answered the comms device. "Tommy, how's it going? Finished old Caligula, did you? Can't wait to see it." "Yeah, Dad, finished this afternoon. Nice to see you. Hi, Mom." He could hear Didi screaming a greeting in the background. "Look Dad, would you mind if I spoke to Dil right now, and hopefully you guys will be round next week. I'll try and be on my best behaviour…just contact me if you have trouble getting here and I'll do the best I can." "Sure, T. Dil, your brother wants to speak to you." Dil was in his hot tub with the girl from "Stalking with the Sontarans," at that present moment. "You know I'm new to TV, so maybe a pretty little thing like you could show little old Esteban here the ropes?" "What, there is no Esteban here, you are Dylan and I am Destructica." "No, tonight I am Esteban and you are Elizabeth Taylor." Then he saw his father walk into the bathroom holding the family comms device. "Dad, do you mind?" "It's your brother…I think he needs to talk to you, like right now. He doesn't normally call this late unless it's serious, and you know him he's all serious since his leg got fucked up." "Very well, we shall continue this later, Destructica…I mean, Lizzie." "Okay, Esteban unit." Dil put a towel on and left the bathroom with his father who just stared at him. "I'm not one to judge son…but a Sontaran." "She happens to be an alien, Dad. Don't you remember my old fixation? Well after puberty that becomes a fetish." "Why couldn't you at least be attracted to humanoid ones like I am?" "Whatever…just give me the communicator." Dil snatched the comms device from his father's hand and snapped "This better be important, bro. Or so help me Rassilon I will be exposing some raw truths about your movies next week."

"I just wanted to talk to you about your show tonight." "Oh, did you like it? I thought the band were mediocre but next week we'll…" "No, your support for a bunch of fascists and purporting a scandal that doesn't exist. You and I were both with Kengo that night when he broke up with her…I've met that girl, Kimi read her mind. She's nothing but a vapid attention whore. As soon as that scandal broke out, even you admitted to me that she was a liar." "Its journalism, T. Opinion matters more than truth. Up is down, black is white." "No, it's political manoeuvring, plain and simple. How you could even allow that scumbag on your show…" "Hey, if it weren't for Pandak I wouldn't be anywhere in this life. I'd still be some stupid kid, named after an Earth delicacy that very few people here know of." "He's a racist cunt who will take my wife, my mother-in-law…and our fucking mother! Our mother, Dil! And oh yeah, don't think he'll let us off lightly, you, me, Dad, my kids…the Purists will lock him up or exile him while we end up being castrated by their secret police to stop mongrels like us from breeding! And you give this man the time of day! He doesn't even deserve a fucking platform…least of all from us." "You don't know, Pandak. He's not like that…he's a politician, the younger Purists might be more firebrand but not him and he if he takes control of the High Council then we'll have a more stable planet and I'll be made Lord Burner for my services in the past," Dil said smiling. "Yeah, he is a good politician, I'll give him that. That explains why he's convinced you that a Purist government will be to our benefit. Whatever about Mom, because she's your responsibility, as much as I love her…if they take Kimi then I'll fucking gut you and your chicken shit boss. Do you hear me?" Dil was speechless. "Bro, come on the show next week for the film. We'll talk then face to face after. I'll introduce you to…" "I already know the slime. I fought in trenches with the fuck on the Outer Rim during the Revolution. I'll come next week, but don't let me see that scuzz ball's face again, unless it's on a spike."

Slamming his communicator shut, Tommy picked up the novel he was reading, _Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows _by J.K. Rowling, another Earth epic he figured he would never have read were it not for the Coalition keeping those Purist policies at bay. The problem with the Purists was they were a very old fashioned party, representing the kind of politics that Tommy's great-great-great grandparents would probably have believed in, and that was if they had been far-right even then. Anti-alien, anti-Outsider, anti all non-Time Lord Gallifreyans on the planet and pro-bland literature and Gallifreyan "art", or pigswill as Tommy called it to the artists' face, he called it horse shite to everyone else. The best books he had read on Gallifrey were either by humans like his mother-in-law or his wife or ones written by Time Lords who had actually left Gallifrey for a long period of time and seen the universe. The average Time Lord tends to lack imagination for the most part, or their world is too stifled for them to write anything beyond the equivalent of Vogon poetry. He found himself writing better poetry about when his knee was stiff on his good leg than they could write a description of a street corner in Zagreus Village. He almost thought most Gallifreyans involved in the zeitgeist merely used it to vex their depression about the blandness and boredom of their world. Kimi then walked into the room and placed the reading glasses she had been wearing on the side. "Still reading that wizard crap, Tommy dear?" "I'm telling you Kim, this stuff is Pulitzer Prize worthy." "I never heard of it when I was on Earth anyway..." "Well, the first one was published in 1997, so technically I'm reading part of your future." "Well considering I'm thirty six and I would have been eight then, not really. For god's sake, Tommy, as much as you enjoy them I have to laugh because the kids won't even read those…" "Well, there's always time to indoctrinate the grandchildren, and knowing our eldest we probably have some already." Kimi burst out laughing and smacked her husband with a pillow. "Don't talk like that…unlike your cynical side, I want our kids to be in love with whoever they want to start a family with…I just want them to be like us." "Well, I wasn't there for the first five years, so, it wouldn't be much different for them." "You know what I mean. Why do you think Lilly wants the DeVilles over or Philly the Carmichaels? Think, boy. She fancies Spencer and he is head over heels for Harriet. And Kengo's a ladies man anyway, he'll be okay. Probably meet some nice young thing in college, or one of your actresses. I don't know what possessed you to make him a star like that…" "The boy's talented, and really confident thanks to it. He wouldn't be such a womaniser if I hadn't conquered his shyness through the camera." "Oh Tommy Pickles, you pretentious little jerk off…I love you, despite your arrogance and gruff sense of humour." "And I love you, Kimi Finster." They kissed and then went back to reading. After another twenty minutes of reading, Tommy started crying. "What's wrong?" "I'm finished the book…and Voldemort's dead." "The bad guy?" "Yes…they should learn some fucking mercy those kids." Kimi lay there, her mouth wide open as if Tommy had sprouted an additional head from his tears. "I cannot fathom you, Tommy Pickles. I read your mind but I see a million different men, each one of them stranger than the last. Aren't you just wonderful?" She kissed him as she dried his tears and he held her tenderly. "Hey Kim. Listen to that?" "What? There's nothing." "Exactly. Your mom's asleep, the kids are out…" "And…oh I get you now. Hmm." As Tommy reached for her shoulder he winced in pain from the leg wound and fell from the bed. "Ah fuck me!" "Well, I would've if it hadn't been for this shit. Oh well…" Kimi reached for a bottle of medicine and proceeded to spoon feed some to Tommy before laying him back on the bed as he drifted back to sleep. Kissing his forehead she put the morphine back on the drawer and went to bed crying.

**University of California, Berkeley, San Francisco, 2025**

Professor Joyce awoke to the feeling of his son slobbering all over him like a dog. But not the son who had just left him, the haggard fool of a younger son who was now a mutated faeces like creature looking quite feral. "Hello, Daddy. It's me, Dilly. Wakey, wakey. Eggs and bakey!" "Dil? What the fuck are you doing here?" Then he saw that behind his son was Lil DeVille armed with a giant laser cannon. "Lil. Gosh, it's a pleasure to see you after…after all this time…Huh," Joyce said, straightening his collar with nervousness. "Can't say the same for you, I'm afraid, Stuart. And by the way, it's the Rani." "Well then, the Rani, if you're going to kill me then just do it, woman. I'm tired of all the bullshit in this universe keeping me alive…I survive this crap and then I watch my son walk out on me…and my other son…Oh, Dil what have they done to you?" Dil leapt onto his father's lap on his hind legs. "They've improved me, Pa. Made me faster…keener…smoother." Dil then started doing Michael Jackson's Moonwalk in front of his father and the Rani. "Dil, please! You are trying my patience" Lil said in earnest. Dil stood stock still and saluted his new mistress. "Now Stuart, word has spread saying that you have been working on something…something our Overlord doesn't exactly want you working on." "I may very well be. I am a scientist…we uncover, we learn, we adapt…sometimes, our little voyages into the unknown or undeveloped can prove a mite…controversial. I'll need you to elaborate on what it is that "scares" your mistress so." "The enhancement of steroids to make a humanoid creature virtually invincible…" "Oh that. Yes, it's a secret project, but I abandoned it because my subject…a certain Doctor Banner…became unstable whilst testing it. We sent him to a radiation test facility, he died at some point in the seventies, I believe. So, the experiment has never really occurred, I'm afraid. There's no threat." "That's not the point, Stuart. We need to use a threat to the Overlord, not isolate one. If we inject enough mining slaves with this thing, could we have an army that could rival the Singulars?" "Yes…yes, that's entirely possible. But why would you do that, when you can simply turn your fellow Time Lords against her, Lil?" Dil leapt right in front of his father and said "Because she'd annihilate us, Dad." He grabbed Dil quite ferociously. "They said you know who she is, son. Well…tell me." "Who could be capable of this much after all they've been through, Dad? Think about it." Joyce released Dil and removed his glasses in sorrow. "Of course, who else." "Who was here, Joyce?" "My son and Susie Carmichael, if you must know. But you'll never catch them…" "Catch them. They surrendered themselves to us five minutes ago. We only found you, because Dil found a way past your perception filters here."

Joyce then shambled to his drawer and withdrew a serum. "You can mass produce this within a few minutes. The soldiers should come easy, use this and you'll have an army at your side in a matter of hours. Plenty of time for tomorrow. Beware, beware…the 26th of October. Don't think I haven't been listening to your Overlord's plans. She won't win you know." "No, she won't. So you are the only living person who could possibly replicate this then, are you Stuart?" "Yes, I burned all my notes on the matter after the Banner incident." "Oh well, if there were others I could have spared you, it would have made little difference if I hadn't. But sadly, it makes a large difference now, I'm afraid." The Rani fired a large laser burst into Joyce's chest and he crumpled to the ground in agony. "No hard feelings? Hmm. I'll leave you boys alone for a minute." Dil rushed over to his dying father in dismay for once. "Son…save your brother…save him. Stop…the Overlord." Dil began to cry. "No, Dad! No!" "Come on, Dil. We've got bigger fish to fry." "I'll be with you in a minute, Rani!" He turned towards his father once more who was now coughing up blood. "I love you…now go with her. It's the only way to save this world. Lil still has her part to play…I know…that's why I gave her the serum…that way…she can…stop her. And bring the chaos necessary to prevent the final plan indefinitely." "Final Plan? No one can delay that…we've left it too late and the Rani knows it." "Yes, you can. Just make sure she uses the serum…then…we'll see. Goodbye, Dil. Goodbye, my boy." Joyce held his son's hand as the last ebbs of life in him left his body. He didn't regenerate, it was his final incarnation. Sobbing, Dil closed his father's eyes and scuttled after the Rani. "What to do next then?" "Well…we'll need to bring my brother to Canary Wharf tomorrow in exchange for your own…that is essential. The rest…is history. If we win…then there'll be no history…just her insipid version of it."


	32. When the Levee Breaks

**Canary Wharf, London, 2025**

The centrepiece of the famed tower was a white room on one of the higher floors. Nothing more, nothing less. The only thing different about this room to any other was its situation on what was once a gap in the fabric of reality, which bled out into all the other universes. In particular, a parallel universe which a certain man now governing this world lived for most of his life, despite being born, if you could call it that, he would anyway, in this universe. Regardless, he ruled the planet of his "mother" with an iron fist. Miners worked in pits to sustain several time vector generators across the planet, through the various resources of this planet, nearly exhausted. No one truly knew why these invaders wanted them to fuel these time vector generators as on the outside they were simply here to keep time and space stable on the planet Earth. The true intentions were more sinister though. The New Time Lords wanted to do away with this world from the whole of time and space, though they needed the Earth more than any other planet at the same time. Delegates from various resistance cells made their way to this tower, escorting the prisoner, the Catholic opportunist formerly known as Phil DeVille to a hostage negotiation.

The room smelled musky and uncomfortable, as they opened the door of the research facility where once there had been a great gap between the universes, the notion occurred to them that this was a risky venture, but after five years of enslavement and tyranny, the prospect of allowing their race to step into the sunlight was too tantalising for them to ignore. The Alliance had sent Jean-Claude and Coco LaBouche as their delegates, with the Meddling Monk being escorted by them. He was wearing a white suit with a red cravat and had his hair slicked back. He refused to wear a bow tie, as bow ties would be far too unfashionable for a Time Lord of his standing. The Free Time Movement had sent two crusty old men as their delegates, Father Ignatius and Brother Edmund. The Children of Time sent Clara Oswald and Wilfred Mott as requested. The two Free Timers made no conversation whatsoever, whilst the delegates placed the Monk in the centre, Clara and Wilf advanced on Coco and Jean-Claude. "Hello, Madame…it's a…pleasure…to make your acquaintance once more." "No need to talk like that, Miss Oswald. Don't obscure the elephant in the room, Mon cher." LaBouche began to sensually stroke Clara's face. "I am a Cyberman. I'm not ashamed of it. Frankly, I think it's better than being a mortal, organic little beast. You may have noticed further upgrades on my person, non?" Clara merely scowled and walked away.

Wilfred Mott was currently eyeing the Meddling Monk. "What are you staring at, old man? My pretty face really all that?" The Monk's face was mottled by a broken nose and scars from beatings and torture over the past year and a half, so it wasn't hard for Wilf to pick up his sarcasm. "No, certainly not. You look like a badger's arse for fucks sake! No, the only think I'm looking at right now is a monster…Sylvia Noble…remember the name." "Of course, I do. The woman ran a crooked whiskey distillery in my city! I had the bitch lynched…couldn't have her selling alcohol to the miners. It would decrease the production rates. The Overlord would have had my balls served to them on a plate. What's it to you anyway, Child of Time?" He said the last sentence with his tongue sticking out like a child. "I was her father. Wilfred Mott, formerly a gunman for Torchwood, now I'm just a humble a servant to Miss Oswald and her Children of Time. And a loyal friend of the Doctor's. Something you, my friend, are not." "I was his friend once…believe it or not, I was one of his best friends. We were raised together…we spent our nursery days together. Did he never speak of me, or my sister?" "No…he told me that your race was evil…I saw first-hand what you people can do and the Doctor and Chuckie are the only good 'uns of the lot of ya!" The Monk snickered and then lowered his head, saying "The Doctor told you that, did he now? That's rich. That is oh so fucking rich coming from him. Ha ha ha. You apes deserve a wretch like him for a god. Hypocrisy is second nature to him, he forgets himself and everything he stood for in an instant. And people like you think he shits the Sun." And with that Wilfred walked away and the conversation was no more.

Father Ignatius and Brother Edmund raised their hands to signal the delegates to come together. Clara, Wilfred, Jean-Claude and Coco all assembled together with the two Free Timers, with the Monk standing in front shackled. He looked at a shard of broken glass in the office and saw Coco wink at him with her one remaining organic eye in it, and she saw his reflection smirk with delight. Suddenly, noises erupted in front of them as a ball of energy manifested. First out, came John Smith, CEO of the Rossum Corporation, walking with a cane and wearing a suit. His white hair was slicked back, but the heavy makeup applied to him made his liver spots more distinctive. "Looking gorgeous, Smith!" the Monk said, winking at his associate. "Fuck off, DeVille! You're lucky we even remembered you were their prisoner." Next emerged was Dil Pickles scuttling on his hind legs in rags with the Rani at his side. "Dil! What the hell happened to you on Morrigan?" "Mustn't tell…Dilly mustn't tell." "Brother, the condition of young Dylan is a problem neither of us can rectify…please, keep your opinions to yourself for once." Then emerged Susie Carmichael wearing her traditional armour, she was carrying a staser and wearing a hood. It took a few brief moments for the Monk to recognise her. "Susie…how?" "Brother!" "Sorry…" Then, behind Susie came two Singulars and a couple of miners dragging the prisoner with them. The prisoner was unmistakably the Doctor, wearing his old clothes from when the Monk had known him as an adult, only he clearly had received a busted lip from the creatures holding him. "Is this the kind of respect we show prisoners in this war? Let the man stand!" One of the Singulars used a weapon to zap the Doctor on his rear end, causing him to leap upwards and scream "Would you like a jelly baby?!" The Doctor was brought to the centre to stand before the Monk, where they both looked each other dead in the eye.

"Sorry, it had to come to this, Phil." "Sorry? You're sorry for this. I'm proud that I fought here…regardless of pros or cons. I'm proud of the fact that I stood against you…the killer of his own kind. And I'd do it again. Apologies mean little to a man who can commit genocide, I'd rather hear them from you if you were truly repenting." "Phil…your son…" "My son? Spencer? What do you know of him? The boy was ashamed of me…I know that much. I was his father and he rejected me despite my love, simply because I cared for my own interests rather than going for the tedium of my own planet." "I buried him…at Arcadia…with his children…our grandchildren." The Monk was silent for a brief moment. "Well…he never loved her…I hated him for that…he was a liar who didn't believe in love. He was..." "A Time Lord. Say it, Phil. The thing you, me, Lil and Chuckie never were. A boring, tedious old man who would rather have ended the universe than die to save it. I took the responsibility away from people like him…and put it in the hands of people like us. The responsible. The ones who know that the universe is worth a thousand Gallifreys and beyond an infinite number of Time Lords. I am not a Time Lord, Monk, and neither are you. But yet, you wreak a holy war of vengeance against me in the name of the dead race who attempted to destroy creation? Think on that…you're fighting in the name of something you weren't and something you disagree with." "Like you and your precious Earth, Tommy, I believe in something better than myself and that is the New Time Lord Empire. That is why I fight. So we don't have men like my son and so many billions of others running time and space. And so that we don't have genocidal vagabonds like you running it either…" The Doctor looked directly at his old friend with a deathly stare, mixed between love and hate. "I hoped I might be able to convince you, Phil, but it seems I was wrong. Your sister's too far gone. Sorry about that. It's going to be a bitch killing the both of you."

"Will somebody break these two up and begin the negotiations already? My cybernetic hair perm is on the fritz and I need it oiled by the end of today…" "Very well, Madame LaBouche. We shall begin. I, John Smith, CEO of the Rossum Corporation and Warden of the Sol System declare these negotiations to be open!" Smith looked at Wilf who was glaring at him. "I take it Great-Grandfather wishes to begin the proceedings?" "I'm nothing to you, scum." "Oh, family is everything to me, Wilfred. Everything…" Clara saw the conflict heating through Wilfred's steaming forehead. "The Children of Time would like to begin with our proposal!" "Granted, Miss Oswald." Clara and Wilf walked into the centre between the Doctor and the Monk. "We propose that the Doctor enter our custody and that in exchange we give you Malcolm Taylor, a chief scientist, as opposed to the Meddling Monk. The Monk is far too valuable a prisoner for us to simply hand him over to you, Doctor or no." "What do you offer in exchange for the Moment then?" "The Doctor has hidden that…don't think we're stupid, Smith." "Quite, Miss Oswald. Quite. Well, it seems Mr Taylor could offer us a lot. Our spies tell us he has expertise beyond your time…somehow. The loss of him would be a great blow to your cause, I'm afraid. Still…" Then Coco and Jean-Claude marched forward forcing Clara and Wilf away, they were flanked by Father Ignatius and Brother Edmund. "The Free Time Movement and the Alliance have a counter-offer, kind sir." "Oh…" Father Ignatius and Brother Edmund outstretched a key. The Doctor felt in his trousers and realised he must have lost the Tardis key a long time ago. "Our men stole this from the Doctor's unconscious body and delivered it to us…his Tardis key. The oldest Tardis in the universe…a machine of immense power in the hands of the New Time Lord Empire would be far more lucrative than a million Phil DeVilles. This Tardis may be out of date, but it is the strongest in existence. Far stronger than any others you may have…It once belonged to the infamous renegade, Marnal before it came into the hands of this one. It could very well be capable of ending this disaster. In exchange for …" "Thank you, I think this will be far more valuable to us than Professor Taylor." "We haven't finished. In exchange for free time travel and dominion over the entire Earth, we will give you his Tardis. You may keep him…trade him for DeVille if you must." Clara and Wilf were awestruck. "Dominion over the Earth? You treacherous bitch!" "Steady on, Clara!" Smith looked to the Rani and then to Dil and then to Susie. All four of them laughed in unison. "You want to rule the world? The human race are conditioned to follow us." "Not all of them." Coco pulled a remote transistor from her pocket and pressed a few buttons. From out of the midst, appeared several Cybermen both in the building and on the streets of London.

"We long for Cyber-dominion of this Earth! Not that of organic human filth, you fool!" Smith stood flabbergasted, whilst his contemporaries withdrew. The old man held his hand up to stop an advancing Cyberman, which stopped in its tracks at Coco's movements. Smith gathered himself and stood tall, having nearly fallen trying to stop the creature. "Never! The Purging of the Cyber Scourge has been a policy of the Overlord's since the beginning! If we were to turn our backs on it now…" "Do it." The voice had been a whisper, that which had interrupted Smith. They all turned in its direction. "Do it," the Doctor muttered from under his breath. Coco laughed so loudly, her cybernetic shrill pierced the eardrums of most of the people there. "Why should we, Monsieur Doctor?" "Evil has won…my father was right. Time to watch you all tear yourselves apart. Ignorance is bliss." "What do you mean?" "If I don't get involved, it will be even sweeter to see this spectacle…So do it." "Well, Monsieur Pickles, allow me to entertain you! Cybermen! Attack!" The Cybermen advanced, but the Singulars reacted first. Making acrobatic leaps into the air they forcefully removed the heads of both Cybermen with their feet, only to be gunned down by the two remaining ones. Then, the miners were upon them. Firing rapid rounds at the Cybermen from stasers in their pockets, the miners burst their chest cavities causing them to suffocate. The Rani advanced, shoving Smith aside. "This mongrel is an excellent diplomat, Madame LaBouche. But in matters such as these, I'm afraid the warrior must take charge. Men!" The two miners used their gymnastic skills to join their mistress. "My equivalent of the Singular…synthesised from a formula created by Professor Daniel Joyce. I call them my Protean Men. Or Human Mark II. All their bodily functions are superior in every way to any organic being, the Cybermen included. They are not knock off Dalek hybrids like the Singulars you have grown so used to fighting. And fear not, I have a thousand of them waiting to slaughter your army. So…I would advise you to surrender, before your army is crushed, Coco."

That was when Father Ignatius and Brother Edmund withdrew their swords. "Metal blades! Pffah! You think they can stop protean warriors?" Father Ignatius turned to one of the Proteans and Brother Edmund to the other. "We are beyond Time now! No creature of time can control us!" The Proteans then suddenly gripped their heads as seizures began to occur across their bodies. Everyone merely stood still and looked at them as they writhed in agony before collapsing in a heap, dead. "What in Mutter's Spiral!" "Free Time, sister. They developed themselves to be beyond Time and Space. Made themselves into paradoxes, only more efficiently and more scientifically than the Faction. They are the true Human Mark II, I'm afraid." "You have sided with them!" "No, sister. Merely facilitated those who were there for me when I needed someone by my side the most." The Monk then threw away his shackles and walked up beside Coco. "Sister, we have found allies in Madame LaBouche and the Cybermen. They can rule Earth as opposed to the apes. A species worthy of being our equal like them." He winked at his sister as she lowered her gun. "I see your point, Phillip. You have a strong point. But, I'm afraid I can't possibly agree. For our people!" The Rani fired her ray gun at Coco and Jean-Claude unexpectedly and Coco received the full force of the blast. Father Ignatius and Brother Edmund then raised their hands and proclaimed. "Fault of the Void, we who are born free of both Time and Space, beseech thee. Open! Unleash the majesty of the Void upon us! Open!" The Rani looked to them and saw one was fiddling with his belt. On the belt was a dial which seemed to be altering time. The Doctor then reacted in horror. "No! You can't do that! Cybermen…Time Lord Singulars…Proteans. Anything but this. Please! Not them!" The Free Timers then suddenly dissipated into nothingness, as the white wall before them began to shimmer. Susie snuck over to the Doctor and released his bonds. "What's happening, Tommy?" "Many years ago, I sealed an army of Cybermen and Daleks in the Void to save Earth. But…I heard a long time ago that they had all died, about sixteen years ago. But if Free Time are in touch with outside time…then that means they can bring them back from that period, by sacrificing themselves…they can bring those things back from the Void." "Daleks…Doctor." "Yes, and I think Coco believes the Cybermen are waiting in there for her. They were most likely exterminated upon arrival." Then, the army came as the first four Daleks flooded out.

"They are not my Cybermen! Jean-Claude, help me up! We best be getting out of here!" As Jean-Claude and Coco hastily exited the building, the Monk grabbed them both. "Stick around for the show, Coco! I had this all arranged, just for you!" "You traitor, DeVille! What are those things?" "Daleks. The greatest nightmare in existence…and they're going to burn this city, brick by brick. With you inside, Coco, you and your precious Cyber Legion." Jean-Claude moved to attack the Monk but the Monk placed his wrist on Jean-Claude's neck, grabbed his hand gun from his pocket and shot the Frenchman through the cheek. "Mon dieu!" Firing again, the Monk hit him square in the chest as Jean-Claude collapse to the floor. "Madame! The Cyber Planner…if we use it, then there will be no stopping us! Go! Go, I say!" Coco fled as the Monk laughed her off. "You swine, DeVille! Madame LaBouche and our Cybermen will crush you. Soon, Earth will be the home of the Cyber race and none other." "Oh, quit yacking, Frenchie. This is for Chuckie and Chaz, and what you and that bitch did to him." The Monk put one last bullet in Jean-Claude's brain before moving to the other side of the room to reunite with his twin. "Lillian, I think it best we were out of here."

Clara and Wilf saw more Daleks begin to manifest as the other lays dormant. "Wilf, I'll go rally the troops. You should help the Doctor. Today is going to be a bloodbath…but we may yet win…I hope." "Clara…" "Just go to him, Wilf." John Smith stared in fear at the army of Daleks approaching and made a move for his Time Vortex Manipulator as Dil grabbed his leg. "Get off me, you urchin!" "No! I am not dying here, war or no!" And with that they both vanished. Wilf moved over to the Doctor and Susie as they made their way towards the roof. Atop the roof, the Doctor looked over the edge to see Daleks flooding out the windows with cries of "Exterminate! Exterminate! Exterminate!" constantly moving about the air. The Doctor could see the whole of London from here. "What's the point? The Battle of Canary Wharf begins anew! Cybermen vs Daleks vs Humans vs Time Lords! When will it end? When will it fucking end?!" He collapsed to one side by the stone wall nearby as Susie and Wilf moved to comfort him. "It'll be alright, Tommy!" "Why'd you keep calling him that?" "It's my name, Wilf! The name I had when Susie here knew me." Susie outstretched her hand to Wilf. "Pleasure to meet you, Mr Mott. I'm Susie Carmichael." "I would say the same to you, Miss Carmichael if it weren't such unfortunate circumstances." They shook hands as the Doctor began to cry. "All lost…all of it lost. Why me? Why am I here?" "You're here to die, Doctor!" The trio turned round to see the Rani and the Monk standing side by side. The Monk had Jean-Claude's handgun and the Rani had her staser primed and ready to fire. "You were telling me how hard it would be to kill us earlier, Doctor? Well…can't quite say the same at the moment."

**Gallifrey**

A summer morning on Gallifrey was beaming through his window as Tommy awoke. Kimi had already left the bed at this point so Tommy made his way to the bathroom to shave. He didn't bother putting his brace on, deciding to let the air at his leg. He noticed the smell of the rotting flesh as he applied some lotion to it, but thankfully the painkillers were still in effect from the night before. Entering the bathroom, he stood on a squeaky object. His dog, Spiffy, now fully grown and allowed to live thanks to a cybernetic lung, must have left the chew toy lying around. His now forty year old dog, Spike still lived with his parents and Dil in the Capitol. Spiffy had been Spike's puppy with Fifi, the Finster family poodle, many years ago. Spiffy himself was about thirty five and had sired his own litter many years ago, most of which were sold, as the DeVilles wouldn't take another considering they already had Phil's mutant embryo, Extermopuss, and now that monstrosity's litter lived with them as well, and Chuckie and Lil had many strays to mind from Zagreus Village. Speaking of them, Chuckie had rang him the other day, to announce the whole gang were travelling by convoy for a reunion, by following Stu, Didi and Dil. "Now Chuckie, you don't need to…" "Tommy, I'm not taking no for an answer, we've got to see each other sometime soon." "Lil's been in your ear…" "No, Susie actually." "Susie? Oh let me guess she told you all about my health. Well let me tell you I'm fine…no matter what she says." "Well, T, it's only a matter of time till you fall down the stairs or something…Please, just listen to me. From one friend to another. My kids and your kids are great friends…" "Yeah, and it's getting to a point where for some of them the veil begins to part and there hormones show them what's right in front of them all along." "Like with you and my sister?" "There was never a veil on that one, unless you include you and your dragging us together over the years." "Just know that we're coming. Your place isn't even necessary…we can stay somewhere else. I'm sure Mom has room in that semi-house she has up there." "Maybe…just…bye, Chuckie." "Goodbye, Tommy, hopefully you'll be in a better mood the next time I see you."

Tommy opened the mirror in his bathroom, to see a purple haired man with a white fringe and misshapen stubble across his face. He thought his beard befitted his late Grandpa Lou's, and was surprised at the rate of growth it was enduring. His right eye was bloodshot whilst the left was clearly still asleep. Smacking the left side of his face awake, Tommy got out a razor and shaved his face without foam. He cut himself in some places, but his face still looked reasonably clean. Administering a bottle of Kimi's eye drops to his bloodshot right eye, he saw the filth of his shower. He knew he had showered the night before, and his leg must have shed some skin all over the floor as bloody bits of flesh lay all over with hair scattered around them. Taking a bottle of Arcturan bleach he poured it all over the shower and activated it, causing the mess to wash away. He spat up a piece of his own hair and blood from his mouth, for some reason he couldn't fathom. Whilst brushing his teeth, Tommy felt the pressure applying to his leg and went to put his brace on. Going downstairs, he found it empty except for Spiffy. "Come here, Spiffy boy!" he said as the puppy raced into his arms and licked him kindly on the face. "What's the news for today?" He turned on the bulletin on his communicator, the device had updated itself in recent years. More headlines about Drall and his granddaughter. The scandal had so little foundation, that he could not believe it continued to be reported on to this day, three weeks since the infamous Pandak interview. Tommy had refused to go on Quantum Newsnight the week after said interview, instead spiting Dil by going to a different channel and completely different host, who had once had Dil's spot before leaving for a better job at GBH, hosting Non-Linear Time, the great Mill Baher. Caligula would be out in October, and it looked to be one of the most popular films of the decade, mainly due to the casting of the ever lovable Drax as the Roman Emperor Tiberius. Despite being a great engineer, he was one of the most successful actors in Arcadia's Omegawood neighbourhood. Tommy made himself some toast and got some dog food for the ever lovable Spiffy. Pouring himself some cereal, Tommy sat and stared into space for a few brief moments. He thought of this reunion, which at this point would be in the next couple of days. He wondered would they treat him the same if they saw him in this state. They may have seen him on Non-Linear Time, but he was wearing heavy makeup and a hat to hide his white hairs, plus there was very little attention being drawn to him, he mainly just discussed current affairs with Mill. He did draw attention to himself by bringing up his opinion on the crisis and called out Drall's granddaughter as a liar, bringing up her attention seeking nature and lack of evidence beyond her "poetically written" tales. Hate mail never came, he felt it would when Pandak made his next move against the man.

Kengo walked downstairs and gave his father a huge tickle. "Fuck off, boy! Quit being a dick! You know I'm not a morning person." "Ah, lighten up, old man. Do you want eggs? Straight from Skaro…poached." "Where's the girl?" "What?" "Did you catch my hint last night?" "What hint?" "To pick up…you know who." "Oh…" Tommy had had a conversation with his son last night before he had went on the town and told him to make sure he got closer to his ex-girlfriend, Paris, the slanderous granddaughter of Drall the Unready, and possibly bring her home should one thing lead to another. "Yeah, I did. She had a boyfriend though." "Since when has that ever stopped you before?" "It didn't…I got in a tussle with him. Handed him his baby teeth and she came home with me." "And…is she still here?" "Yeah, but that's not the main issue here." "Then what is?" "Her boyfriend's part of a little group of good for nothings who may or may not be in cahoots with the Purists, and he's one of the biggest drug dealers in town." "So fucking what, I'm a big shot director and a hero of the revolution at that. I'm bigger than any small time drug dealing street punk." "That's not going to matter a whole lot to them, Dad. They've got Pandak behind them. They've been running the streets of this town since Pandak was Justice Minister. One of us is going to get what's coming to us from them or him." "Whatever…it's more likely to be you, since you're in that club every night. You want my advice, go to another joint." "I'm barred from all of them, Dad." "You fucking ingrate! You shouldn't be hanging around in Purist clubs to begin with. Come on!" Tommy seized his son by the ear and dragged him upstairs to his bedroom, where a naked, attractive blonde girl lay taking some Sontaran droppings, known as Whiffy to the kids on the street. "Drugs, in my home?" "The only way to get her lucid, Dad." "Very good, son. Very good. Just hope you used protection, that's all. Not in case of kids, just because of…her and her friends." "Yeah, don't worry."

Paris was clearly intoxicated on Whiffy, as Tommy advanced towards her and snapped his fingers in her face. "Paris? Hey, wake up. Earth to slut!" Tommy rapped his knuckles on the girl's forehead and then said "Paris, we'll give you 2000 credits for an exclusive for our bulletin." Paris leapt up with a start and screamed "Yes!" Tommy and Kengo grabbed her by the arms, her naked form being revealed from beneath the sheets. "Got you now, honey! No use escaping when the Pickles boys got you pinned down." "What do you want, Pickles?" "For you to leave your grandfather alone." "He touched me!" "Did your mama never tell you how naughty it is to fib, did she? Aw, poor girl's being naughty, Kengo!" "Aw, naughty!" "Fuck the pair of you!" "You probably would, but sadly I'm a married man, daughter." "Yeah, and I've already been a few times, it ain't pretty." "I'll get my Louie after you." "Louie thinks you're a whore who cheated on him. Trust me, he's not going to come after us for getting you to be honest." Paris screamed and flailed quite rapidly, kicking Tommy in the face. He recovered himself and smacked her across the face, causing her ridiculous fit to end. "Listen to me now, bitch. Your grandfather is the only thing standing at the moment between our people and fascist totalitarianism, so you are going to tell every journalist out there that you are a liar or so help me Rassilon, I'll tell them you fucked a half human! Then your boyfriend's thugs won't be so keen on you. Now will they? Hmm?" "Why do you do that all the time, Dad?" "It's an old habit, and like your mother says, they die hard." Paris ripped herself from the two men and found herself a dressing gown. "Get the girl a drink and get her out of here. Think on this scandal now, Paris. And realise where you are…because I have witness testimony proving you've been with half-humans." "What half-humans have I been with?" "None of your concern, my dear. It's best if you and your friends don't know that. But I can tell you know that I know you have fucked one, and that that's what's making you so cooperative all of a sudden. Let's hope this level of cooperation keeps up, or I might have to tell the press all about how you left drugs in the presence of two eleven year old children two years ago to the press, as well." "Fuck you, Pickles." "No thank you darling, like I said before, I'm taken." He held up the finger bearing his wedding ring for the girl to see and smirked as he left his son's bedroom.

Two hours later, Paris had left and Tommy was sitting at the dinner table with his son, Kengo when his mother-in-law came downstairs. "What was all that commotion going on earlier, boys?" "Just a little bit of drama for Kengo…" He winked at Kira and mouthed "A girl." "Oh," she chuckled into her hand. Kengo looked at his grandmother sternly, as if slightly embarrassed. "When is everyone coming, Dad?" "This evening or tomorrow, I believe. You be on your best behaviour, now you hear me. Those DeVille and Carmichael girls are far too young, and Lil and Susie are a bit old, even if Susie is single. Plus, Melinda is your cousin and your uncle Chuckie will beat you bloody if you do anything to Lil. And don't be doing everything your uncle Dil tells you to. Rassilon, the last time they came…" "Don't worry, Dad. These get-togethers I'm normally on my best behaviour." "Yeah, well you're a little bit more independent since the last time, and even then you were impossible." Kira kissed her grandson tenderly on the cheek. "Would you like some coffee, Kengo, dear?" "No thanks, Grammy, I've got to see a man about a dog. Sayonara, O bachan." He kissed her on the cheek and left the house, staring at his father all the while. "I'd be afraid he'd get his heart broken out there, only it's impossible to break your own heart. Though then again, knowing how capable he is at that…" "Ha. Chuckie rang me this morning, they're only a half an hour away, he and Phil and Lil are coming before your parents and Dil arrive." "Oh well, what is Kimi out for?" "Philly and Lilly have mind bending practice." "Oh, I see. Very mundane stuff, mind bending." "You only say that because you're good at it." "Not with this crutch, I'm not. The pain stops me thinking straight for the telepathy to kick in." "They have their mother's gift and your latent Time Lord abilities, that's why they do it. It's not so mundane when you're winning." "Yes, they do have her gift. Shame, Kengo doesn't." "No...our little Tommy was born before she received the gift…shame really, he's such an intelligent boy it might have given him more of an edge in life than what he's already got. Might ease the depression a little." "He's not depressed, Kira. Just…a little solitary at the worst of times." "He's not 100%, Tommy and you and Kimi know it. You need to speak with him. Communicate a little. He feels like he lives in your shadow." "He's amazingly successful, and will probably be more well-known than Dil or I in years to come. My son has no reason to be depressed." "Sure, Tommy, sure. You haven't been with him on the nights he doesn't go out, when his brother and sister are asleep. He's so…quiet. I ask him what is wrong and then he remembers he's in the room, and I see this look on his face…like he's just after receiving the news that he has only a week to live…and then we just talk about nothing until he slips back into his little state. I worry for my grandson, Thomas, as should you." "I love the kid. But he's never showed any sign around me. Though…keep as close an eye as you wish. This is your house too, you pitched in, so it's as much yours as ours. And you're his grandmother, you always know best." Kira laughed and then she and Tommy hugged. "You're a good man, Tommy, even if you are a little eccentric. My daughter is lucky to have you." "She's lucky to have had you and Chas. Me, I'm just her love toy who thinks the world of her." "She loves you more dearly than you could ever know…" "I know." Tommy thought back to the dreams he had had that night. Of Death and life, of a blue box, of so much he did not understand…and in his dreams he saw himself, but never Kimi. He chose not to think on it too much.

His wife walked in the door at the moment accompanied by her brother, Lil and Phil. "Tommy!" the rambunctious DeVille screamed at his old friend as he ran over and embraced him. He was wearing a hipster cap and had dirty jeans and an old t-shirt for clothing. Lil was wearing a dark blouse and had a strip of hair dyed blonde, whilst Chuckie merely wore a trench coat and steel-capped boots. He had grown a beard, so thick and red it looked to consume the rest of his face. "We missed you, dude!" Tommy heard the voice of Phil emanating from his breast. "Me too, Phil. Me too." Lil pulled her brother from her oldest friend and embraced him in kind. "Oh Tommy, is it really as bad?" "Susie fucking Carmichael…" "Susie didn't put us up to coming here." "Excuse me?" Tommy looked at Chuckie who seemed to be holding back slightly. "Dil did. Said you were losing your marbles…the leg was getting to you with the pressure of the new film." Phil backed away into the corner as Tommy moved pushed Lil aside and moved aggressively towards Chuckie. "Dil should learn to shut his trap and pick his friends more wisely." Lil's face grew sterner upon hearing Tommy make that blatant remark. "Is that directed against us by any chance?" "Did none of you see his show three weeks back?" Kira then sidled away saying "Oh, I think I hear Kengo calling, must dash." She left the room as Chuckie turned to Tommy with anger. "Of course we did, we didn't just happen to turn it on because we never speak to our own family except when the blue moons rise in the night sky." "My relationship with my parents and my brother is none of your business, Charles. And if you must know, it's because he brought Pandak on his TV show to add fuel to the fire in that slander case…" Lil grabbed Tommy's arm and said "Yes, because Pandak got him that position, and Pandak is the only reason he and your parents aren't living in shit under that lecherous old man you call Uncle Quences." "Is that bastard still alive? Bitterness must really be the key to long life, it seems…" "Well, it looks like you'll outlive the galaxy then." "Can we all please shut up with this pointless arguing?!" Everyone turned. Kimi was standing in the doorway to the kitchen, having not said a word throughout the entire conversation. "Kimi, dear. We were just settling some differences…" "Tommy, I'm not in the mood. This is meant to be a happy time, when friends and family come together. And you're pissing all over that because of your feud with Dil. Make peace with your brother. You know he's not a Purist, and we've all forgiven him for a little bit of opportunism, dearie. Why doesn't his big brother try for once?"

Tommy stormed out into his back garden in shame to spend a few silent minutes alone, whilst the rest of them left the kitchen. The garden was nothing like the Rose Garden at the estate on Mount Perdition which he had grown so fond of, during his time in Kimi's memories during their dreams. Her telepathy was strong, so he wondered why she had not merely silence the conversation with her mind. Of course, he thought, she terrifies herself. She only ever read his mind or her mother's. Kimi hadn't pried into the thoughts of another for years, out of fear. Tommy thought she must have seen something in Morbius' mind during their battle, as despite her fighting expertise Morbius had taken her down with great ease. He had been a champion of mind bending in his day, it is possible he could combat her telepathy. Looking into his own mind, he was scared. The night before he asked Kimi to enter his mind and she had merely looked at him with perplexity. "Tommy, your mind is fine, anything mentally wrong with you is just a reaction to the pain, and that can be helped." "But it's my dreams, Kimi. Can't you see them? Please, tell me." She merely bade him goodnight and left him awake and alone. Tommy looked to the sky and saw the twin Suns of Gallifrey were at their crucible. Closing his eyes, he dreamt of his own infancy, of when he first met Chuckie, his dearest friend, and then Phil and Lil. They were all united out of fear of his cousin, Angelica, a vicious mean-spirited harpy loathed by all. Tommy wondered where she was. There was news of skirmishes across the galaxy with members of the Cult of Morbius, though he doubted any of them would propagate any of her children who were now in their early twenties. He knew the CIA would hunt them down at some point, so he hoped his cousin kept her head down. "She won't…she'll rise again, don't worry. And you'll have to stop her…her children's blood will be on your hands." Tommy looked up to a dark haired woman with a jade crystal in her forehead standing before him. "Who are you?" "You may call me Jade for now, my dear boy. And I shall have the pleasure of calling you Tommy, I think." "It's not much of a pleasure to know me, my dear." "You are depressed?" "Yes…I'm happily married with three beautiful children and a successful film career. And yet I have no foothold anywhere else in life. My friendships, the rest of my family or politics, something which I am dabbling in far too much these days." "Like all politicians you tend to think that your actions are for the benefit of others, when they are inherently selfish, no doubt." "Yes, indeed." Jade lay beside him almost seductively. "I thought I told you I'm married." "Yes, and I am merely giving you the comfort that your wife has not given to you." "She's scared…because she's seen the dark side of my mind. The side that sees and speaks with things like you. The side that has me taking part in adventure… never with her." "Maybe, she'll be dead by then." "I couldn't bear that. For me to…not just to be alive without her, but to live without her…if you know what I mean." "She needn't be dead…just absent, waiting for you to find her. How far do these dreams go?" "I don't like to go beyond certain points it seems to show me." "Why ever not?" "Because there's darkness, death and destruction after my eighth face." "So you mean to say that there's adventure?" "Yes, but with more consequences." "And what is life without consequences? See your future…look beyond the veil…look into the ether. See the future of Gallifrey. See him. See the Doctor."

Tommy closed his eyes to look upon a city burning, with the youth of his world running from metallic beings firing energy beams. The place was unfamiliar. He assumed it must be a Gallifreyan settlement from the future. These children could be old enough to be his six times great grandchildren. Then he saw something familiar on the edge of the city. It was a dark blue building, three storeys high. His home. "My home…when does this happen?" "When you are on your ninth body…the one you choose to forget. During a great war…Arcadia will fall." "Kimi? The kids?" "Long gone from here. You will all be alive, more or less…but your distant descendants will most likely be living in that house. Highly unlikely your children will still be in the family home. Though, what do I know?" "Quite…what do you know?" "More than you, Doctor." "Stop calling me that, Jade. I am no Doctor." "Not yet." Then, they beamed a few incarnations forward. She showed him, himself standing with Kimi, bearing the same face he did now. They were in a console room, the console room of the Tardis she officially owned. "That's' the old family Tardis! She was put into a museum, years ago!" "The Doctor and the Tardis…and the Doctor's wife." "How come I don't see her for so long?" "Fate, my dear. The inescapable majesty of us all." "What do I need to do for this to happen?" "Just when you see her for the first time…close your eyes and think of me. You won't find her unless you make this promise. And…you need no longer fear. Because of this pact, you shall no longer be a manic depressive, my friend." "Fine, whatever. Just make my life happy again. Now. Please." Then he woke up in the garden, his dog Spiffy licking his face. He doubted that was a dream somehow.

That evening, he wore his best tux and made sure the leg brace was less obvious. Kimi wore a nice blue dress from famous Betelgeuse tailors. His suit was simple, a dinner jacket, black trousers and a bow tie. She straightened his dinner jacket and bow tie, upon seeing her husband's ineptitude. "Honestly, it can't be that hard to wear a bow tie, can it?" she said, upon seeing his strop. "As much as I like this suit, I have to say bow ties are ugly pieces of work. You wouldn't catch me dead in one." "Knowing my husband, they'll be his favourite item of clothing someday." "Yeah, sure. Dream on, sister." Kimi smiled. "I'm glad you made up with the guys. You just walked in from the garden and you were so nice, and smiling. There's only one person you've got left to worry about though." "And who would that be now?" "Your brother." "Well…he'll understand, once I have a little chat with him. He'll see sense." "Yes, because you are ever so sensible yourself." "Was that sarcasm?" "No, just complimenting my lover." She kissed him on the cheek. "Now, that is sarcasm." They laughed and kissed each other on the lips. He looked into her beautiful brown eyes. "You do have lovely eyes, my dear. Such powerful eyes. Brown eyes, they can be so serious, but yet so loving and warm as well. Promise me, you'll never leave me." "Of course I won't, my dear. I love you, warts and all." She smacked his gammy leg playfully and they kissed once more. Releasing one another they headed downstairs to the reunion soiree.

Their back garden had an awning on the second storey upon which the party was very clearly happening. The children had all united and began to speak with one another. All except Kengo, as his age gap prevented such interaction. Instead, he was conversing with Dil and his grandparents over a few Draconian ales Stu must have smuggled in from the Capitol. Philly and Lilly were dancing to music playing in the background, with their respective partners. Earth tunes which Didi had chosen from the 1950s and '60s. Lilly danced with Phil and Wally's son, Howard, or Spencer as he preferred to be called, whilst Philly danced with Susie Carmichael's daughter, Harriet. Phil and Lil sat with Chuckie, Wally and Lana, Phil and Wally's daughter, only nine years old. She clearly realised the others needed to seriously get a room. Then Tommy saw out of the corner of his eye, his and Kimi's niece, Melinda hiding in the corner. He indicated her to Kimi who walked towards the poor girl. They stood silently for a few moments, but Tommy's low-level telepathy picked up a few sentences discussed. "Aunt Kimi, they all burn…" "They don't…just focus on your own feelings now. Your gift is amazing. Tell yourself that." Melinda then looked directly at Tommy and said something inside his mind. "You are very different today, Uncle. I sensed a disturbance in you. Now…nothing. I cannot read you." He smirked and said aloud "I'm feeling better than ever today, my dear. Come on, your daddy will be wondering about you." Melinda was thirteen but never spoke a word. She was an empath with some low-level Time Lord telepathy, but never used language. Tommy thought it had to do with her occult obsessed birth mother, the late Megan. He always thought of Lil as her mother, because Lil treated her as a daughter. Then again, he seemed to treat her brother Phil's children, as well as Tommy and Kimi's in a similar fashion. But she was closer to Melinda, of that there was no doubt. Taking a look towards his brother, Dil, their eyes met and Tommy could see a distinct sense of bitterness in them. Tommy nodded and, staring at Dil all the while, turned round and re-entered the house. Dil excused himself from the table and went inside.

Tommy was in the kitchen preparing himself an Arcturan cocktail called "Grounds for Divorce," for both himself and Dil, as his brother entered. His brother had a beard and trimmed hair as per usual as well as a cream beige suit. "With opium or without, brother?" "With, we TV personalities are too used to the narcotic substances of other worlds, bro." Tommy took an apparent herb from the worktop and crushed it into Dil's cocktail. Handing his brother the cocktail, Tommy raised his glass and said "As they say on Earth when such family occasions occur…Salud." "Salud, brother." They took a drink from their cocktails. "Earth…the planet which half of our ancestry comes from. The planet our mother and my wife and mother-in-law were all born on." "Brother, don't think I don't know what Pandak is…but trust me, the Purists are being regulated by him. He cares more for power than he does for racial purity. If my scheme works, he'll have too much of a crippled economy on his hands to be deporting or executing anyone." "Scheme?" "I've devised a model to bring down the economy bit by bit come election time. Now it won't kick in or really be noticed by anyone other than economists until after the election…that way the Purists will have to deal with the economic difficulties rather than pass their own legislation against other species living here." "Why not cripple the economy now, in whatever way you go about it to begin with?" "By crushing small time businesses through his gangs and their protection rackets, the local economy is going to lose all confidence. Demand will go up and they will be unpopular, forcing them to disband the gangs and pump money into the local economy." "What about important companies?" "Important companies? Brother, you have been in Arcadia too long. In the Capitol, there is very little owned privately, bar small time shops and Chuckie's orphanage. Trust me, Pandak will be my puppet." Tommy scratched his head with uncertainty. "But why risk it? To put the Purists in power is a large gamble, brother. What if they have an economic strategy planned? They'll find out about Mom…and even if you manage to hide that, it's going to be next to impossible to hide Kimi and me from them. No one knows for certain except for friends and family…but Kimi gave birth naturally to Kengo. He has no looming record. He was naturally conceived and born naturally. The twins were naturally conceived and loomed, as were you and I, but Kimi wanted to hide the fact that she was pregnant, because I was missing. And since Time Ladies can't have children that way, we're screwed when, not if, they find out the most up and coming young Omegawood actor, my eldest son, is fucking half-caste." Dil rubbed his chin. "I'll find a way to fake looming records, but you should have told me this a long time ago, bro." "Well, a long time ago, I didn't think my brother would work with upstart little fascists to move up the ladder of a staid old bureaucracy, now did I?" Dil frowned and said "I'll see what I can do." "Good, and I apologise for being so rash. You're a television presenter…you were just doing your job…and you owe Pandak a great deal, but you must beware of him. You're playing with fire here, my boy." Dil laughed. Tommy was very clearly vexed at his little brother's amusement. "And what's that for? Hmm?" "My big brother would never beware of anything…he'd fight it." "Well…I grew up, I'm afraid." "No, you got crippled and gave up your Tardis when you could have gone anywhere. You could have lived your dream. But you stayed at home…" "I was a father then and still am now." "Tell me this, Tommy. Would you leave in the morning?" Tommy stood speechless as Dil left in the room. With his back turned, he left with a "My point exactly," and Tommy was alone with his regrets once more.

Tommy re-joined the others and sat beside his wife and mother-in-law outside. They were sitting at a large table with everyone else and were eating prime Skarosi animal flesh Phil had prepared personally, using his culinary expertise. Kimi squeezed her husband's hand upon seeing his sadness. He looked at her and she smiled. Across from him were his parents, Stu and Didi. Stu had several grey hairs, but none as white as the ones hidden in Tommy's fringe. Didi, on the other hand, had some white hairs, but still she was human, and her eldest son looked far worse and he was a Time Lord. After an hour or two of eating and drinking, Chuckie stood up and held his glass high. "Friends, family, honoured guests. I would like to propose a toast to my oldest and dearest friend, Tommy Pickles, without whom we would not all be here. Now, I know you've become very solitary in the last few years, Thomas my boy. But, we came here to see you. Susie…" He indicated Susie Carmichael, who sat with her daughter, beside Dil. "…told us you were very ill, but that you would live. I wanted to see you, as did Phil and Lil. So we decided it was time for all the families to come and see each other again, having not seen each other since Susie's brother, Buster's wedding five years ago, right here in Arcadia. My own mother and sister live here as do my best friend and their kids. I would live here myself, but we all have responsibilities here in the Capitol, as do you my friend, with your family and your films. But, just know this. You're our responsibility. Mine, Lil's, Phil's, Susie's, Wally's, Melinda's, Spencer's, Lana's, Dil's and most of all the people who raise you, Stu and Didi. You showed me what it's like to be brave…now I'm going to be brave for you, no matter how bad you get, my friend. So, a toast…to Tommy Pickles, the Bravest Time Lord There Is." "To Tommy!" everyone at the table shouted in agreement, raising their glasses.

Tommy merely said in reply, "I would stand, my dear Chuckie. But I'm afraid…my leg, you see. I have no fancy words for you today, I'm afraid. All I have to say, is that you are all amazing, each and every one of you. Chuckie, my oldest friend, my rock for a long time, the one who showed me more than I ever showed him. Lil and Phil, kind, argumentative and more dependable than anyone I know. Wally, a good wife to a dear old friend of mine. Susie, a darling if ever there was one, the one person I could honestly say was like a big sister to me in this life. Dil, my little brother, odd and extreme, but I love him all the same, because I will always be responsible for him, no matter what, I'll be there for him. I made my dad a promise that I would. Of course, my parents, Stu and Didi, no greater parents. We've had our difficulties, but none of them were because of you. At least you're both away from that vile old man. He'll go to the Realm of Pain for his crime. He broke my grandpa's vow, none of his bloodline will be his heir now, so we can rest easy at that. I know he's my only great grand uncle and officially the patriarch of my family but I can't help it, the man is more putrid than the swamps of Delta Magna. To Harriet, a girl who is like a daughter to me, and she may very well be something similar one day." Everyone laughed at that as Philly and Harriet blushed in unison. "Don't think you're getting off lightly, Howard Spencer DeVille. You're not quite as much of a son to me, but you and your sister Lana are darling children, as is your wonderful mother, Wally. Melinda, a beautiful girl, like her namesake and her late mother, Megan. Kind, sweet and silent as a church mouse. I do love and understand you, my dear niece. Because I know what it's like to feel the pain of another, I'm afraid I do. Twelve others, to be precise. Your grandmother, Kira, is also dear to me. She has always helped in caring for my family and always offers sage advice when it is most needed. If we had had her ilk running the House of Lungbarrow instead of Quences, I and the cousins might have more of a functioning relationship. My children…the twins. Irksome, little monsters. Each one reminds me of me, and each one reminds me of their mother. Don't ever change, my dears. My eldest boy, Thomas Malcolm Pickles Jr, or Kengo as we call him. A fine young man who will go far in life. No obstacle can stop this boy. He has similar difficulties to myself and he knows it. But I know that he will overcome then. And lastly, who could forget, my darling, my rock, Kimi Finster. A woman who walked into the life of me and my friends and changed us all irrevocably. I will never forget her or her sacrifices. I love her dearly. And I would tear the galaxy apart for you…do you know that?" He now had his hand on his wife's shoulder. She let out a single tear and placed her hand on it. "Yes, I do. I love you." "And I you, my desert flower. And I you. To all of you and to Kimi! A woman who has the patience of a thousand saints!" They all raised their glasses as Tommy sat back down and he received several claps when he was done. Then he noticed someone else was at the table. A sallow faced blonde haired woman. He placed a pair of reading glasses on his face and saw distinctively who it was. "Aunt Charlotte?" "Yes, my dear. And I'm afraid none of us are going to make it out of this fiasco on our planet as happily as you think. Soon, Pandak will be President, and you'll all be longing for the return of my brother, Morbius then. When the Time Vortex breaks, there'll be nothing left to stop those vultures in the Purists from having their way with people like us. And we will never see each other again. So, I consider myself privileged to look upon my fine nephew for the last time." She raised her glass and said "To the Doctor!" and collapsed in a drunken stupor. "What?" Tommy said, and then he suddenly thought "Sorry Aunt Charlotte, but I'm no doctor. Whoever this doctor is, I could never be him. Not even if I tried."


End file.
